The beach volleyball duo trailed against world number four Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, Netherlands, both 1-0 in the set and 8-12 in the decider but held their nerve and managed to turn it around. The Swedes won 19–21, 21-19, 16-14 on the second match point.
The Swedes fought their way into the match and gave impressive performances in the decisive moments, but it was above all David Åhman’s art stroke until 6-6 in the second set that stood out (see the stroke in the player above).
Are you kidding me? How does he see it?, says the commentator on Volleyball World.
Åhman: “We had to dig deep”
Åhman and Hellvig now have the chance to defend last year’s tour victory.
Conditions on the track were tough. The pennants showed clear wind in a match where the Dutch pair were mostly in the driver’s seat.
– We weren’t really ready for it (the wind) and the Netherlands played well. Stefan is big and difficult to get past in the wind. We had to dig deep to win today, says David Åhman.
In the end, however, it was precisely the 2.04 meter long Stefan Boermans who was responsible for a decisive miss. His reliever past Jonathan Hellvig at 12-12 went just wide and was the game-clincher.
The final will be played tonight at 19:00 where the Norwegian world number two Anders Mol and Christian Sörum await.