Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei, August 26, 2024 – Top seeds lived up to their billing at the “Taichung Bank” AVC Beach Tour Taoyuan Open at Dayuan Beach Volleyball Court here on Monday, as Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato and Stefanie Fejes/Georgia Johnson captured the respective men’s and women’s titles.
In the men’s showdown, Thailand’s top seeds Pithak/Poravid mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) shutout of second seeds Jack Pearse/D’Artagnan Potts and left their opponents from Australia with the silver.
Fejes/Johnson topped the women’s podium following their 23-21, 21-17 victory against second seeds Jasmine Fleming/Jana Milutinovic in the all-Aussies final clash.
Fejes/Johnson entered the four-day tournament in Chinese Taipei as the top seeds in the women’s main draw bracket, cruised to the final undefeated and captured the women’s crown on a five-match winning run without dropping a single set.
Current FIVB women’s beach volleyball world No.60, Fejes/Johnson made a clean sweep in Pool A with sensational 2-0 wins against Thailand’s Jidapa Bunongkhun/Salinda Mungkhon and Long On Ieng/Law Weng Sam of Macao, China to advance to the quarterfinals, where the Australian duo repeatedly beat Thais Jidapa/Salinda 2-0 to storm into the semifinals.
Fejes/Johnson demolished Thailand’s third seeds Charunrutawadee Patcharamainaruebhorn/Woranatchayakorn Phirachayakrailert 2-0 in the semifinals to next face off against world No.75 Jasmine Fleming/Jana Milutinovic in the final showdown, which Fejes/Johnson powered past the compatriots 2-0 to eventually reign supreme.
Earlier this year in June, Fejes and Johnson had won their first Futures event as a team, taking out the event in Krakow, Poland where the newly-formed combination were playing just their fourth tournament together. Both players have won Futures golds before with previous teammates. For the 19-year-old Fejes, it was already the fourth Futures trophy in her collection. She took all previous three in a partnership with Jana Milutinovic at tournaments played in Australia – Coolangatta 2023, Mollymook 2024 and Coolangatta 2024.
This April, Fejes and Milutinovic outplayed Fleming and Johnson to capture the women’s crown in the AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open in the City of Santa Rosa, Laguna, Philippines, while the 25-year-old Johnson’s only previous gold on the Beach Pro Tour was also earned in Australia, at the 2023 Geelong Futures with Jasmine Fleming.
Fejes and Milutinovic switched partnership with Fleming and Johnson this May and the Tianjin Open in China was the first AVC Beach Tour event that the newly-formed Fejes/Johnson took part in and secured silver medal there last month. The victory in the Taoyuan Open in Chinese Taipei was, therefore, the unprecedented AVC Beach Tour gold Fejes/Johnson had won as a team.
In the semifinals earlier, Fejes/Johnson spent 30 minutes in outplaying Thailand’s Charunrutwadee/Woranatchayakorn 21-15, 21-8.
Fleming/Milutinovic struggled hard to beat fourth seeds Tara Phillips/Elizabeth Alchin 2-1 (21-19, 13-21, 15-13) in the all-Australians affair.
The bronze medal match saw Aussies Phillips/Alchin bounce back to beat Thais Charunrutwadee/Woranatchayakorn in three-setter 12-21, 21-12, 15-10.
Meanwhile, in the men’s event, Thailand’s Pithak/Poravid cruised past second seeds Jack Pearse/D’Artagnan Potts 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) to capture the men’s title.
The current world No.47 Thai duo had already picked up silver medals at two AVC Beach Tour events this year consisting of the Nuvali Open in the Philippines in April and the last month’s Tianjin Open in China, going down to Iranians Abbas Pourasgari/Alireza Aghajanighasab in both finals. Thus, the eventual title at the Taoyuan Open became the very first AVC Beach Tour event that Pithak/Poravid emerged victorious.
However, the win in the Taoyuan Open was not the first victory of Pithak/Poravid they had claimed in international competitions. The superb duo had already won Thailand’s first medal in the Asian Championships in 10 years when they claimed bronze at the 2023 edition in July in Fuzhou.
The Thai pairing had also claimed their first FIVB World Beach Pro Tour title in December 2022 at the Futures event in Subic Bay, Philippines. They added another podium finish to start the 2023 season when they placed second at the Futures event in Coolangatta, Australia.
Pithak/Poravid had mixed fortunes in the pool play in the Taoyuan Open, beating Japan’s Yusuke Ishijima/Kensuke Shoji 2-0 in their Pool A opener, but succumbed to 0-2 defeat to Kiwis Gregory David Vukets/John McManaway in their second encounter. However, with only three teams featured in Pool A and with the best points ratio, the Thai tandem finished atop Pool A to automatically advance to the quarterfinals, where they beat Japan’s Nassim Malki/Kai Kurokawa 2-1 (23-21, 10-21, 15-9).
In the semifinals, Pithak, who will turn 26 on September 4, and the 22-year-old Poravid struggled hard again to beat Australians Luke Ryan/Joshua Howat 2-1 (21-11, 15-21, 15-9) before shutting out another Australian duo, Pearse/Potts, 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) in the showdown.
The other semifinal clash earlier saw Pearse/Potts bounce back with a nail-biting tie-break win 15-21, 21-19, 15-12 against Thailand’s third seeds and world No.87 Netitorn Muneekul/Wachirawit Muadpha.
Meanwhile, Australia’s 12th seeds Luke Ryan/Joshua Howat put it past the Thai pairing, who secured bronze medal at the Tianjin Open in China last month, 21-18, 21-14 win in the third-place playoff for bronze medal.
MATCH RESULTS
MEN
WOMEN
FINAL RANKINGS
MEN
WOMEN
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