Just minutes after the longest tiebreak of the tournament between Chile and Norway, the Olympic-qualified teams and top men’s duos of their respective countries, Germans Ehlers/Wickler and Americans Partain/Benesh, stepped onto the sand once again.
No one probably expected that Pool C would be so full of surprises. With Pfretzschner/Winter’s afternoon 2-1 win against McHugh/Burnett, a place in the quarterfinals was not secured by any team yet. Ehlers/Wickler needed to win one set more than the Americans to go straight to the quarterfinals.
The Germans started with a strong lead of 5-2 and were able to maintain a 4-point advantage for almost the entire set. Perfect side-outs definitely helped a lot. They finished the first set with an ace serve at 21-14.
The second set was a different story, as the US managed to get a 5-2 advantage. Unfortunately for the Americans, with the awakened block skills of Ehlers, the German team equalized to 5-5. Then the side-out battle began, with teams playing point by point. Partain/Benesh went to a technical timeout with a one-point lead at 11-10. It didn't last long, as a few mistakes by the Americans and massive attacks from the Germans set the score at 17-13 in their favor. Nevertheless, Benesh's two power blocks and an ace serve from Partain led to an 18-18 tie in the second set. But in the deciding moment, Ehlers’ attack and block brought this important win to the German team at 21-19.
“We know what we can do, we have strong service, strong block-defense, so it is always possible to get a few points back,” Nils Ehlers commented after the game.
The situation in Pool C was so confusing that the German players had no idea they had won first place in the group and were advancing straight to the quarterfinals while giving interviews about the game. So how did they feel when they finally found out?
“It’s perfect to play one game less, especially in these conditions, when it’s so hot, and on Center Court it’s even hotter. That’s why we are so happy and really looking forward to tomorrow as I think the atmosphere will be even better,” Wickler added.
