Shanghai, China, May 3, 2009 - In the 60th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match featuring two teams from Brazil, Harley exited as the winner with Alison Cerutti as the top-seeded team in the men's China Shanghai Jinshan Open competition scored a 21-14 and 21-15 win in 40 minutes over the second-seeded Salgado and Pedro Cunha.
"It was great having two Brazilian teams on the podium," said the 34-year old Harley, who now has won 14 SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals with five different Brazilian partners. "I like playing here in Shanghai. We are treated great and the fans are very appreciative of our play. I give a lot of credit to Alison today as he is developing into one of the best players at the net on the tour."
Sunday's finale was the second-straight SWATCH gold medal match for Harley and Alison on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour this season as the pair placed second in last week's opening international event on the 2009 calendar in Brasilia by dropping a 22-20 and 21-19 decision to compatriots Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos.
To reach the China Shanghai Jinshan Open finals, Harley and Alison scored a 17-21, 21-17 and 16-14 win in 71 minutes over third-seeded Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany. The Pedros avenged an earlier setback in the China Shanghai Jinshan Open to Kristjan Kais and Rivo Vesik to score an 18-21, 21-16 and 15-8 win in 51 minutes over the 10th-seeded Estonians.
In the men's bronze medal match, Brink and Reckermann earned a split of the $15,000 third-place prize by defeating Kais and Vesik 21-17 and 21-9 in 37 minutes.
The China Shanghai Jinshan Open is the last double gender event on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour until the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships presented by ConocoPhillips. The $1-million event will be played June 25-July 5 in Stavanger, Norway. Prior to Stavanger, men's only events will be staged in Italy (Rome, May 12-17) and Poland (Myslowice, May 26-31). |