Defending champions Brouwer and Meeuwsen reach knock-out stage of Beach Volleyball World Championships after second victory

Defending champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen have made a good start in front of their home crowd ©AFP/Getty Images

Defending men's world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen secured their second win of the Beach Volleyball World Championships in front of their home crowd in The Netherlands.

The Dutch paring were hoping to add to their opening win of the tournament against Chile's Matias Tobar and Rodrigo Salinas in their Pool E match, held in Rotterdam and they got off to the perfect start by taking the first set 21-12.

They completed the job, securing the second set 21-14, to ensure the would advance to the knock-out phase of the tournament, despite still having a game against Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo left to play.

Brazil's Ricardo Santos, a runner-up in both 2011 and 2013, and his new partner Emanuel Rego had a more difficult encounter in their second match of the tournament against Russia's Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Varzutkin.

The Russian youngsters, aged 18 and 19, stunned both the Brazilians and the crowd in Amsterdam to win the first set 21-17, however they were unable to prevent a Santos and Rego from fighting back to level the match by securing the second 21-13.

Stoyanovskiy and Varzutkin showcased their potential for the future in the deciding set as the pair kept neck-and-neck with the Brazilian duo.

Their hopes of a shock were extinguished, though, and Santos and Rego eventually prevailed 17-21, 21-13, 17-15.

The United States' Laura Fendrick and Brooke Sweat earned a surprise win in Pool J ©Getty Images

Pool E of the women's competition also saw superb three set matches taking place, with Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of the Czech Republic claiming a thrilling victory over Canada's Jamie Lynn Broder and Kristina Valjas.

The Canadians had taken a closely fought first set 21-18, before the Czech pairing got back level, winning an exciting and nerve-wracking second set 21-19, before completing the comeback, claiming the decider 15-12 to move in contention for the knock-out phase.

The big surprise was that 2013 silver medallists Karla Borger and Britta Büthe of Germany were unable to hold onto their lead against the United States' Laura Fendrick and Brooke Sweat in Amsterdam.

The American pairing bounced back from losing the first set 21-17 to take the second 21-19, before wrapping up the comeback, winning the decider 20-18.

The result sees both teams remain in contention for the next stage with a win and a defeat from their opening Pool J matches, but lie behind Russia's Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova, who have won both of their matches.