After an easy first round win over Sweden’s Petter and Viktor Jonsson (21-10 21-16), Marcos and Garcia upset third seeded Hannes Brinkborg and Stefan Gunnarsson in the second round. The Swedes came back from behind after losing the first set and even had a couple of set points in the second, but great blocking by Spain prevented a tiebreak: 21-17 23-21.

In the third round the Spanish team, seeded 30th, just as easily eliminated USA’s Casey Jennings and William Strickland, although they needed three match points to seal the victory: 21-16 21-17. Both players, coached by 2004 silver olympic medallist Xavier Bosma, exploded with joy on a sunny Stvanice Island.

They had reached a main draw event before individually, but not since they started playing together as a team in 2011. ‘‘Today it was all about concentration and control‘‘, Garcia said. “We are not tall players, but we scored quite a lot of blocking points today thanks to that focus.‘‘

Canada

Canada advanced two teams to the main draw of the fourth edition of the Patria Direct Open, 4th seeded Ben Saxton and Christian Redmann and 16th seeded Josh Binstock and Martin Reader. For Binstock and Reader it was the second time, in only four events together, they made it to the last 32 teams.

‘‘I really wanted to succeed here‘‘, Reader said. ‘‘Prague is our home base in Europe and we know a lot of people here. The week before the tournament we stayed with the Benes family [the promoter of the Patria Direct Open] at their country home, where they have excellent beach volleyball facilities. So our preparation was perfect.‘‘

After beating Italian teams Cecchini/Ranghieri (21-15 19-21 15-9) and Tomatis/Martino (21-14 21-14) they knew they would have to play a tough third and final match against Dawid Popek and Michal Makowski. The young Polish team upset first seeded Georgians Geor and Gia in the second round. Due to an excellent blocking Reader the Canadians also won this match, 21-18 22-20 in 39 minutes.

Brazil - Venezuela

Also advancing were 6th seeded Harley Marques and Evandro Gonçalves from Brazil, though they needed three sets (21-19 15-21 15-11) against fellow South-Americans Leon and Castro. Although seeded only 54th the Venezuelans had eliminated Estonia’s Vesik/Jaani (11th) and Japanese Asahi/Shiratori (22) in the first two rounds.

The other four teams that claimed a spot in main draw of the $190.000 Patria Direct Open were 2nd-seeded Laciga/Weingart from Switzerland, Russia’s Bogatov/Prokopiev (10th), Poland’s Kadziola/Szalankiewicz (5th) and Stiekema/Varenhorst (9th) from the Netherlands.

Starting Thursday Brazil’s world champions Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego will defend their 2011 title on the island in the Vltava River. Main draw matches start at 9.00. The semifinals of the double elimination men’s only Patria Direct Open are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, while the medal matches are played on Sunday.