Beach Pro Tour Futures Bridlington day three round-up - English finalist guaranteed is men's competition

With the sun shining on Belvedere Beach for much of a long session – which saw Pool Play, Round of 12 and Quarter-final matches all completed – it ended in the best way possible for the hosts nation as they secured two last four berths in quick succession. 

Quarter-finals 

First, on Court 2, Bello and Gleed high-fived their way along the perimeter to greet their supporters after clinching a straight sets semi-final success over Germany's Jonas Reinhardt and Robin Sowa. 

Though Bello was feeling under the weather and carrying a slight knee problem, he made light of it in tandem with dynamic blocker Gleed, who had a day to remember, as they took control early on and were able to close out a 21-17, 21-14 triumph. 

Less than 15 minutes later, Bialokoz and Batrane followed their lead after winning a battle with cross-border rivals Scotland to set up what will be an eagerly-awaited clash. 

While Seain Cook and Euan Fraser had their moments in what was their third match of the day, their opponents, in their first, were always in control and able to raise their level at the key moments. 

With Bialokoz a powerful force in attack and defence at the net, and Batrane frequently keeping the ball off the sand, they eased to a 21-13, 21-17 victory in 29 minutes. 

On the other side of the draw, another side playing their third game of the day, Casper Willems and Arne Darras pushed the number two seeds Jakub Krzeminski and Aleksander Czachorowski hard, despite, no doubt, feeling some fatigue. 

Although dropping the first set, they refused to wilt and took the second set deep, before the Poles eventually edged through 21-13, 27-25. 

The semi-final line-up was completed by the pair from Canada, Luke de Greeff and Tynan Gannett, who kept their unbeaten record going in this tournament with another composed display. 

The Austrian duo of Michael Klemen and Elias Holzinger tried everything to shake the rhythm of their opponents' but they were unsuccessful in doing so as the North Americans took advantage of nicking a tight first set to close out the second far more comfortably (21-19, 21-14). 

The women's last eight matches produced a string of enthralling matches – with three of the four going the full three sets - but ultimately it was a great outcome for France. 

Les Blues are flying in the football World Cup and there was more success for the nation here as two of their pairings booked semi-final spot. 

Both had to do it the hard way, however, coming from a set down to edge through via a tie break set. 

First Saofé Duval and Marilu Pally, who had booked an automatic spot in the quarter-finals after winning both matches in Pool A, took time to get going against Emma Cudmore and Ofure Odigie of Canada, dropping the first set 21-16. 

But once they clicked into top gear they eased themselves back into the match, taking the crucial second 21-18 and then held their nerve in a frantic decider that could have gone either way to triumph 17-15. 

Things were only slightly less fraught for Romane Sobezalz and Anouk Dupin, who again did not get off to the best of starts as Stef Kun, in partnership with Lilla Villám, was dominant at the net in the early stages. 

But they gradually found a way and, after levelling, powered away in the tie break, where Kun was forced to take a five-minute medical timeout, eventually prevailing 15-6. 

The final quarter-final paired Germany against Japan where Elea Beutel and Paula Schürholz got the better of Miharu Kashihara and Aimi Oba. 

It was the Europeans' superior height and power that trumped their opponents' high work-rate and defensive expertise (21-15, 21-13). 

Round of 12 

Scotland's Cook and Fraser arguably pulled off the result of the day as the qualifiers upset fourth seeds Nathan Matos and Pablo Pérez in the Round of 12 amid a highly-charged atmosphere that saw the Spaniards shown a yellow card. 

Both sides were vocal in the celebration of their points wins and, despite the strong wind, served up some hugely entertaining rallies. 

In the end, though, it was the Scots who came up trumps 21-15, 21-19 to seal their fourth victory in five matches during the tournament. 

Joining them in the quarters had been Bello and Gleed, with the latter producing three consecutive net blocks to help them power past Dutchmen Thijmen Heemskerk and Calvin Ooms, with the help of three blocks in a row from the latter (21-13, 21-16). 

But it was the end of the road for another English pair in Harry Jones and Peter Soczewka, who have pushed hard every team they have played across Senior NEVZA and Beach Pro Tour Futures over the past week. 

So it was against Austrian duo Michael Klemen and Elias Hozinger, who benefited from some high-class jump serving in their 21-18, 21-19 success.  

The fourth and final men's Round of 12 game to be concluded went the distance. 

Belgium's Casper Willems and Arne Darras and Austrians Felix Friedl and Florian Schnetzer traded the first two sets before going into a tense deciding tie break, which went the way of the former, as they clinched a 18-21, 21-16, 17-15 victory. 

The women's Round of 12 saw all four matches decided in straight sets, even if the scorelines were often close, and saw the exit of the two remaining English teams. 

Alice Jagielska and Isabelle Tucker gave a superb account of themselves against Hungarian number one seeds Villám and Kun, who have proven pedigree on the world circuit. 

The English duo were well backed by a healthy Saturday afternoon crowd and produced some superb plays and defence, but, ultimately, the Eastern Europeans held firm to run out 21-17, 21-19 victors. 

Also bowing out were Martha Bullen and Ella Watson, who were given a bye into the Round of 12 stage following the withdrawal of Sara Sinisalo and Maisa Kyröläinen. 

They succumbed to Germany's Beutel and Schürholz, having stayed with their opponents in the first set but not able to maintain that level in the second (21-16, 21-11).  

Cudmore and Odigie have booked their place in the last eight by exactly the same margin, with Laura Kubistova and Amalie Tonova losing out to the qualifiers. 

Pool Play 

The day had begun with the conclusion of the Pool Play matches, with those teams who had lost out in their opening main draw matches on Friday getting a second chance to make it through. 

On the men's side, Heemskerk and Ooms overcame Swiss qualifiers Tim Amrein and Nathan Broch in three (21-16, 19-21, 15-12 in Pool A, while Cook and Fraser edged out Maruis Pande and Magnus Helgerud of Norway (21-19, 16-21, 15-10) in another tight contest in Pool B. 

There was home nation happiness for Jones and Soczewka as they advanced from Pool C at the expense of Tomas Pala and Ondrej Sotola (21-18, 21-12) and Pool D saw Willems and Darras overwhelm Lewis Fenech and Sam Reid, who battled hard until the end (21-9, 21-6). 

In women's Pool A, 16-year-olds Robyn Clifford and Tilly Hutton's had their maiden Futures event campaign ended by a clinical display from Mol and Hjeltnes (21-7, 21-7).   

At the same time, in Pool B, fellow English teenage elite tour debutantes Molly Quinn, 17, and Lauren Thorn, 16, also tasted defeat, going down to Kubistova and Tonova. 

Pool C saw the aforementioned injury withdrawal, leaving Pool D as the last to be decided where Jagielska and Tucker produced some sparking play to eliminate Japan's Harumi Sakai and Shion Tsubouchi  in straight sets (21-16, 21-10). 

Images by Simon Clarke, Rosie Williams, Ewan Cameron and John Westgarth

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