Portuguese pair posts seed-break-throughs at SWATCH FIVB smart Grand Slam

(BEIJING, June 12) -- As reported by FIVB website, the 17th-seeded Portuguese tandem Pedro Rosas and Jose Pedrosa defeated higher-seeded teams from Norway and Brazil on Wednesday's Berlin stop of SWATCH FIVB World Tour, advancing to the Main Draw for this week's smart Grand Slam.

The Portuguese pair has played in seven SWATCH FIVB World Tour qualifiers this season, and managed to advance to the Main Draw in their first, third, fifth and now the seventh attempts.

After scoring 21-18, 18-21 and 15-10 in 62 minutes over 16th-seeded Kjell Goranson and Vegard Hoidalen of Norway, Rosas and Pedrosa posted another victory 19-21, 25-23 and 15-13 in 74 minutes over top-seeded Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto of Brazil.

"This is amazing," FIVB quoted the 28-year-old Rosas as saying after the match, "we played two very tough matches today against two very good teams. To qualify for this Grand Slam event is remarkable since it starts a stretch of four very important events on the FIVB tour."

"Our goal now is to place higher than 25th this week," Rosas added.

According to the report by FIVB website, the 12th annual smart Grand Slam is the 40th SWATCH FIVB World Tour event for the Portuguese partnership. Rosas/Pedrosa have made it further than a qualifier for a total of 10 times in 29 events since 2005. This is their 11th FIVB Grand Slam event. Rosas and Pedrosa have now advanced to the Main Draw competitions four times with the best finish to be 17th placement at the 2005 Austrian stop in Klagenfurt.