An early defeat to Behrens and Ittlinger on Pool G puts the Brazilians is a tough spot

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Behrens and Ittlinger have won their first main draw match in the Beach Major Series

The 2018 Fort Lauderdale Major didn’t start well for Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa, the silver medalists of the 2017 edition. On their first match in Florida, the Brazilians were surprised by Germans Kim Behrens and Sandra Ittlinger and will be faced with an elimination match on the second day of the main draw.

The up-and-coming Germans came from behind to beat the silver medalists of the 2017 World Tour Finals in three sets (15-21, 22-20, 15-13) in only their first Beach Major Series tournament together.

“I was very surprised”, Ittlinger said after the match. “We did such a good job. We played two tournaments already this year and we did well, but when we saw Agatha and Duda on the other side, we were a really nervous, for sure, but we continued playing our game and it worked out. We are very happy.”

The good result is not an isolated high point for the team which was formed last year, as in 2018 Behrens and Ittlinger have managed to get the fourth place at the European Masters in Pelhrimov and a fifth place in the World Tour four-star stop, both in January.

“I think we kept focusing on ourselves, not thinking about what they were doing”, Behrens added. “This helped us to keep calm and to try to make our stuff well. 2018 seems to be a good year for us, I hope it continues this way”.

The Germans are already guaranteed in the elimination round of the #FTLMajor and will play the Netherlands’ Marleen van Iersel and Joy Stubbe for the first place in Pool G while Agatha and Duda will face Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Heidrich on Thursday morning in a match where whoever loses will leave the tournament.

Both matches and every other of the Fort Lauderdale Major can be watched live on BeachStream. Click here, register and enjoy.