Three Dutch men's pairings advance to Beach Volleyball World Championships last 32 in front of home crowd

Three Dutch men's pairings will feature in the knock-out phase of the World Championship ©Getty Images

Three Dutch men’s pairings advanced to the knock-out phase of the Beach Volleyball World Championships, in front of their home crowd in The Netherlands, as the pool phase came to a close.

Michiel van Dorsten and Steven van de Velde progression to the round of 32 looked precarious as after one win and a defeat in Pool F they required a victory in their final match in Apeldorn to advance as the runners-up behind Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Martin Plavins.

The pair failed to get off to a good start as they fell lost the opening set 21-17 to Russia’s Yaroslova Koshkarev and Dmitri Barsouk, who had been yet to win a match in a Championships being played across The Netherlands in Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam and The Hague.

Van Dorsten and van de Velde were able to claim the second set 22-20, though, to take the match to a thrilling decider, which they claimed 19-17.

Their compatriots Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst have joined them in the knock-out phase after they also earned a hard-fought three sets victory in their final match to boast a 100 per cent record so far and advance as Pool A group winners.

Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez, the surprise package at these Championships, having qualified in second in the pool, bounced back from losing the first set 21-17 to win the second 21-18 to give the Dutch pairing a scare.

Nummerdor and Varenhorst then secured the third set 16-14 to join advance and join their fellow countrymen Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen in the next phase.

The defending champions had already confirmed their position as Pool E winners last night.

Germany's Karla Borger and Britta Buthe advanced in the women's competition ©Getty Images

Brouwer and Meeuwsen’s title defence could come under serious threat, however, in their first knock-out match as they face one men they beat in the 2013 final, Brazilian Alvaro Filho, and his new partner Vitor Felipe.

Having fallen to defeat in their last match, Germany’s Karla Borger and Britta Buthe, the 2013 silver medallists, were able to ensure they will also feature in the latter stages of the tournament as they claimed a 21-14, 21-19 win over Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova.

The victory saw them move to the top of Pool J ahead of the Russian pair and the United States' Laura Fendrick and Brooke Sweat, with all three teams advancing having earned five points from their three matches.

Brazil’s highly regarded pairing of Larissa Franca Maestrini and Talita Da Rocha Antunes also advanced to the last 32 as winners of Pool B, recording three straight wins in the tournament, losing only one set.

They will begin as huge favourites to secure a berth in the last 16 when they take on Australia’s Mariafe Atacho and Nicole Laird, who narrowly reached the knock-out phase having finished third in Pool C.