Stavanger, Norway, July 6, 2003 - Brazil's Ricardo Alex Costa Santos and Emanuel Rego secured their first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour title together at the Norway Open on Sunday when they downed Argentina's Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde in a thrilling final in Stavanger.
The Brazilians, playing their first full season together, fought back from a set down to defeat last year's World Tour champions 16-21, 21-16, 15-12 in front of a packed centre court, resigning their Argentinean rivals to their second silver medal in as many weeks.
The victory also gave Emanuel his third consecutive Norway Open title - his fourth in all - to go with those he won in 1999, 2001 and 2002 with different partners, while Ricardo improved on the silver medal he won in this event last season.
It was also 28-year-old Ricardo's second triumph in Stavanger, the 200 cm offensive maestro having also won here three years ago. Emanuel now has an impressive 37 World Tour titles to his name while Ricardo increased his haul to 17.
"This one is the best of my victories here in Stavanger because it was the toughest," said 30-year-old Emanuel. "Argentina played incredible in the first set, we could not get our game together at all. But we changed our strategy in the second and again in the third when we tried to slow it right down, and that helped us get back into the game."
Having appeared out of sorts in the opening set, Emanuel and Ricardo began to find their form following a series of spectacular rallies half way through the second. Winning those vital points energised the Brazilian pair and slowly Ricardo began to dominate at the net with his aggressive blocking and spiking, while Emanuel patrolled the back court with some fine defensive play.
"We started talking about forming a team last season and played a couple of events together on the World Tour," added Emanuel, who was also voted the Speedo Most Valuable Player. "Ricardo has an incredible block while I have more speed behind and I think that makes a great team.
"Obviously our aim is to make the Olympics, which is hard because there are so many good Brazilian teams. We will focus on doing well in the grand slam events - I think there are another five or six before the qualifying date - because the teams that do well in those events will be the ones that make it to Athens."
The bronze medal went to Australia's Julien Prosser and Mark Williams, 21-18, 20-22, 15-6 victors over Brazilian qualifiers Jefferson Bellaguarda and Dagoberta Dultra.
For Prosser and Williams, a new partnership this year, the bronze medal made up for an indifferent start to the season during which they have had to try and qualify for the first three events. The Aussie pair only received a Main Draw place this week owing to a number of injury withdrawals, but they grabbed their opportunity with both hands to secure by far their finest placing together.
"We've struggled so far on this tour and felt pretty low last Wednesday after crashing out of qualifying in Berlin," said Prosser, whose last podium finish was back in 2001 when he won the Berlin Open with his former partner Lee Zahner.
"We felt like we were at the bottom of the barrel and feeling pretty low. But I know from experience that you never can tell what's round the corner. This was only Mark's (Williams) second appearance in the Main Draw and for him to make the podium is a great achievement. I don't know of too many players who have achieved that - I'm real proud of him."
Williams also received the SWATCH Fastest Service Award after being timed at 82.5 km/h.
The 2003 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour takes a break next week before moving on to France for the $300,000 Marseille Open, the second grand slam of the season. |
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