An exciting Final Match was the best conclusion of the challenging tournament here in Poetto Beach in Cagliari.

US team Fontana/Youngs succeeded to defeat the Olympic Gold Medalists Pottharst/Cook (AUS) 2-1 (10-21,21-19,15-11) in an exciting match that kept all 3,500 spectators in the packed stadium, thrilled all through the play.

Previously, in the bronze medal match, Brazilians Adriana Behar - Shelda defeated their compatriots Sandra Pires - Minello with 2-0 (22-20, 21-12).

A cheerful award ceremony kept all spectators in place, applauding all winners for their great performance.

Best Player Title for the event was earned by Barbara Fontana (USA) who received the special SPEEDO TROPHY.

The second and last competition day of the Main Draw was concluded today, Saturday afternoon, with 18 excellent matches keeping the crowd thrilled all day.

The first match in this morning's program on the central court showed host country's top team Brushini - Solazzi opposing the top ranked team of the 2000 World Tour's edition, Adriana Behar - Shelda (BRA). The Italian team was defeated in two rounds by the Brazilian team in a tough match.

In their next match, the Italian pair, supported by their home fans, fought strongly, but had to surrender to Masakayan-DeNecochea (USA) in the longest and most thrilling match of the tournament (27-25,25-27,17-15 in 71') in an almost packed stadium.

The weather this morning was again beautiful and this added in an overall excellent day for the Cagliari Women's Open.

Tomorrow the program will start at 11.00 with the first semi-final Youngs-Fontana (USA) vs Sandra Pires-Minello (BRA) followed by the 2nd semi-final Cook Pottharst (AUS) vs Adriana Behar-Shelda (BRA) in another recall of the great Olympic Gold Medal match.

The Bronze medal final will start at 15.30 while the Gold medal final will start at 17.15.

An excellent first Main Draw Day for the Cagliari WT Women's Open.

The weather was again wonderful today with maximum sand temperature reaching 53°C and air temperature 30°C. No wind or clouds at all.

The competition has been great, with all teams offering a spectacular performance in front of more than 3,000 spectators over the whole day.

Two out of three teams representing host country Italy remain in play, one in the winner's brackets (Bruschini - Solazzi), and one in the loser's brackets (Perrotta - Gattelli) with only one (Folco - Marini) being eliminated after the first day.

The golden medallist of last year's World Tour, Adriana Behar - Shelda (BRA) defeated the Italian team Folco - Marini in the first round with no problems.

Bruschini Solazzi (ITA) won 2-0, in 45 minutes against the Greek team Sfyri - Karadassiou in an easy match. In the second round the top Italian Olympic team defeated in two sets the Germans Pohl - Rau, coming from the qualification tournament, even though wasting two easy match-balls.

Tough matching tomorrow, the most interesting being the ones between Bruschini - Solazzi(ITA) against Adriana Behar - Shelda (BRA), Olympic Gold medallist Cook-Pottharst(AUS) confronting Peraza-Grosset(CUB) and the 2 matches between USA and Brazilian teams (Mc Peak/Arce vs Jackie Silva/Claudia and Youngs/Fontana vs Sandra Pires/Minelo).

Tomorrow's program starts at 9:00 am with the weather forecast promising another sunny and pleasant day that will of course attract even more spectators to Poetto's Beach.

The qualification tournament was concluded today, Thursday afternoon, with twelve good matches being played, plus 4 matches for the play offs, so 8 teams earned their place in the Main Draw.

The 8 teams representing eight nations will fight in tomorrow's competition: They were from Greece, Brasil, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Latvia and America.

The teams of Wood - Bragado (USA), Jackie - Silva (BRA) and Pohl - Rau (GER) the top seeded in the qualification tournament, passed the first rounds without any problems and at the end of the day were qualified.

Tomorrow the competition starts at nine o'clock in the morning with 40 matches scheduled to be played on the courts of Poetto's beach.

The first match in the program for tomorrow morning on the centre court is Bruschini - Solazzi (ITA) that will compete with the Greek team Sfyri - Karadassiou. while Adriana Bhear - Shelda, gold medallist of the World Tour 2000, will meet the Italian wild card team Folco - Marini. The gold medallists at the Olympic Games of Sydney Cook - Pottharst will play will the Latvia's team Minusa - Pulina coming from the qualification tournament.

The weather was beautiful today on the famous Cagliari's beach with maximum sand temperature reaching 51°C and air temperature 32°C while the wind was soft (13Knts) and the sky was clear.

Smoothly and without major upsets, the first day of the qualification tournament was concluded today, Wednesday afternoon, at the beautiful Poetto Beach of Cagliari.

With 16 out of 31 teams still remaining in play, tomorrow's program includes some really strong matches that will decide which 8 of them will earn the valuable main draw spots.

Olympic Gold Medalist Jackie Silva, playing here in Cagliari with new partner Claudia, reports to be very happy with the new regulations, which have introduced Rally Point Scoring and 8X8 m court.

This year after the success of Beach Volley at the Olympic Games of Sydney, many new and hopeful players are entering the World Tour, which makes the competition even more interesting and appealing.

The weather was a great supporter of this first day of the Cagliari Open with maximum sand temperature reaching 43°C and air temperature 32°C, while the usually strong wind of the area was very soft and the morning clouds were cleared away.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Beach Volley World Tour Maxicono Cup 2001 played in Cagliari from Wednesday to Sunday starting from 9 a.m. This is the second event of the World Tour after Macau played in April.

Tomorrow and on Thursday 30 teams, coming from 18 different nations, will compete in the qualification tournament. For the eight spots leading to the Main Draw.

Only one italian team announced till yesterday that will take part to the qualification tournament and the team of Malerba- Chiavaro has forfeited. The favourites teams are Jackie Silva - Costa (BRA), Wood - Bragado (USA) and Pohl - Rau (GER). (Jackie Silva with Sandra won the gold medal in the Olympic games of Atlanta).

The Poetto's Arena is ready and more than 60.000 people will come to enjoy the great performances of the top athletes from all over the world.

The weather today was cloudy and the temperature was 30°C but the forecast for tomorrow is better. The Rally Scoring System and the smaller court of 8m. X 8m. for each side will be used also here in Cagliari.

On Wednesday the Australian team, Natalie Cook and Kerry Pottharst (sponsored by Speedo), will play an exhibition with the italian Club of "Centronuoto" (Cagliari) from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m..