With their three teams storming into men’s semifinals, Australia has a guaranteed berth in the final showdown of the “Rebisco” AVC Beach Tour 2nd Nuvali Open at the Nuvali Sand Courts by Ayala Land and PNVF in City of Santa Rosa, Philippines, while the women’s duels see New Zealand and Japan locked horns with Australia.
Powerhouses Australia has moved a step closer to winning their first men’s title in the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open when all their threepairings including top seeds D’Artagnan Potts/Jack Pearse secured their semifinal berths on Friday. At the inaugural edition last year, Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab handed Iran the historic title following their exceptional win against Thailand’s Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato in the men’s final.
The Saturday’s morning semifinals see Potts/Pearse, who last year overcame Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher in the all-Australians showdown to capture the Asian title at the same world-class Nuvali Sand Courts here, face off against compatriots and fourth seeds Paul Burnett/Luke Ryan in a final rematch of the recent Australian Beach Volleyball Tour Finals in Coolangatta.
In the other semifinal clash, Australian 14th seeds Ben Hood/Oliver Merritt, who stunned defending champions and 2024 Asian bronze medallists Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab from Iran in hard-fought three-setter 21-19, 7-21, 15-13 in the round of last 16, will go up against another Iranian duo, 15th seeds Bahman Salemiinjehboroun/Amirali Ghalehnovi. Last year, Hood teamed up with Potts to pick up bronze medal for Australia at the first edition of the Nuvali Open.
Earlier in the quarterfinals, Aussies Potts/Pearse struggled to beat Kiwis Bradley Fuller/Ben O’Dea, champions at the recent 2025 GJ Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour presented by Tip Top, 2-0 (22-20, 21-15), with Aussies Burnett/Ryan cruising past last year’s silver medallists and the 2024 Asian bronze medallists Pithak/Poravid from Thailand 2-0 (21-11, 21-17).
In the other quarterfinal encounters, Australians Hood/Merritt put it past spirited Surin Jongklang/Kittituch Khomkham from Thailand 2-0 (21-17, 21-19), while Bahman Salemiinjehboroun/Amirali Ghalehnovi saved the pride for Iran as they powered their way to the semifinals following the magnificent 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) win against Kiwis John McManaway/James Sadlier.
Meanwhile, Australia’s top two seedings booked their berths in the women’s semifinals on Saturday morning, with top seeds Jasmine Fleming/Stefanie Fejes challenging Japanese Asami Shiba/Reika Murakami and second seeds Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson facing off against New Zealand’s third seeds Shaunna Polley/Olivia MacDonald.
Fejes has set her sight on the back-to-back Nuvali Open title. Last year, she partnered Jana Milutinovic to capture the women’s crown. This time, the 21-year-old Fejes teamed up with Jasmin Fleming, 22, who took silver with partner Georgia Johnson at the last year’s inaugural Nuvali Open.
Elizabeth Alchin/Georgia Johnson, who secured silver medal at the recent Australian Beach Volleyball Tour Finals in Coolangatta and bronze medal at the last week’s World Beach Pro Tour Futures Coolangatta to their name, also have something to prove in the highly-anticipated semifinal clash against Kiwis Polley/MacDonald, who topped the women’s podium at the recent GJ Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour.
Filipinas Khylem Harl Progella/Sofiah Shanine Pagara pulled off an upset 2-0 (22-20, 22-20) win against China’s 2024 Wuhan Qingshan Futures champions Yan Xu/Zhou Mingli in the round of last 16, but found Aussies Alchin/Johnson an impossible nut to crack to go down 0-2 (18-21, 19-21) in the quarterfinals.
The remaining quarterfinal matches saw Aussies Fleming/Fejes come from behind for an epic tie-break win 17-21, 21-16, 15-12 against Chinese Yu Tong/Jiang Kaiyue, Kiwis Polley/MacDonald comfortably beat Japanese Maruyama/Ishii 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) and Japan’s sixth seeds Shiba/Reika battle hard to eliminate Thailand’s fourth seeds Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, fourth place at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, 2-1 (24-26, 21-15, 17-15) in exhausting 58 minutes.
The men’s and women’s semifinals will take place in the Saturday morning, with the two winning teams setting up the final showdowns and the losers fighting it out in the third-place playoffs in the afternoon session, followed by the awards presentation and the closing ceremony.
A total of 24 men’s teams and 20 women’s pairings from Australia, China, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and Uzbekistan are competing in the topflight four-day event, vying for the eventual men’s and women’s titles, cash prizes and AVC ranking points.
RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
MATCH SCHEDULE
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKINGS
MEN
WOMEN
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