Four home teams, two from USA and one each from Lithuania and France qualify for the Elite main draw.
Brazilian teams demonstrated a strong performance, securing half of the eight main draw spots available during Wednesday`s women`s qualifications at the Joao Pessoa Elite event on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Three of these home teams achieved victories against higher-seeded opponents, much to the delight of the local fans. In addition to the Brazilian success, two pairs from the United States, one from Lithuania, and one from France also advanced to the 24-team main draw, which is scheduled to commence on Thursday morning.
The qualification round, featuring 16 teams, saw its most gripping encounter when the 16th-seeded Brazilian duo of Flavia Moura Santos Cezar and Barbara De Sousa Alves Ferreira pulled off the day`s sole tie-breaker win. In a hard-fought match, they defeated qualification bracket favorites Xolani Hodel and Kylie Kuyava-De Berg of the United States with a score of 2-1 (20-22, 21-17, 15-13). Barbara was the leading scorer for her team with 20 points, including two aces, while Flavia Moura contributed another 19. On the opposing side, DeBerg was a standout with five kill blocks, accumulating a match-high 27 points, and Hodel finished with 19 points.
Another significant upset came from the 14th-seeded Brazilians Verena Figueira de Oliveira & Kyce Mikaele Martins Silva, who dominated their match against the third-seeded Dutch pair Wies Bekhuis & Emi van Driel, winning convincingly 2-0 (21-13, 21-17).
The ninth-seeded Brazilian team of Carol Horta & Elize Maia became the third pair from Brazil to overcome a higher-ranked opponent on Wednesday. They secured a decisive 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) victory in their qualification match against New Zealand`s eighth-seeded Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald.
Furthermore, the sixth-seeded Brazilian wild cards, Thainara Mylena Feitosa de Oliveira & Talita Calixto Simonetti, achieved a notable 2-0 (21-19, 21-14) win over Dutch Olympians Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon. This marked Stam`s return to the Beach World Tour after an injury, her first appearance since the Doha Finals in December.
Meanwhile, the second-seeded American duo Corinne Quiggle & Chloe Loreen successfully avoided an upset, defeating the 15th-seeded Brazilian team of Andressa Cavalcanti & Taina Bigi in straight sets, 2-0 (21-17, 21-15).
Similarly, the fourth-seeded Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte advanced by beating Brazil’s Emanuely Pereira Cardoso & Quemile Vieira de Souza, seeded 13th, with a 2-0 score (21-15, 21-17).
The other American team to successfully navigate the qualifiers was the seventh-seeded pair of Hailey Harward & Molly Phillips. They secured a 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) victory against Estonia’s Heleene Hollas & Liisa Remmelg.
French Olympians Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard also earned their spot in Thursday’s main draw. They celebrated a straightforward 2-0 (21-10, 21-16) win over Norway’s Nina Pavlova & Sunniva Helland-Hansen.
The women’s main draw competition is scheduled to begin on Thursday at 09:00 local time (12:00 UTC).
Jasper Thornfield 
Oliver Wrenwick