Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor (right) and Christiaan Varenhorst won two matches at the Antalya Open today after taking an eight-week break from the FIVB World Tour ©FIVB

Dutch duos Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst and Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen made successful returns to International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Tour action today by claiming two wins each at the Antalya Open.

The last time the two teams participated on the international circuit was mid-March in Vitória in Brazil, where Brouwer and Meeuwsen captured the bronze medal and Nummerdor and Varenhorst placed fifth.

Seeded first at the Antalya Open, Nummerdor and Varenhorst registered Pool A wins over 32nd-seeded Devrim Alibaba and Kemal Sah of Turkey - 21-14, 21-12 - and 32nd-seeded Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl of Austria - 21-13, 19-21, 15-13.

The pair are due to end their group play tomorrow with a match against 16th-seeded Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza of Latvia - the first-ever international meeting between the two teams.

The winner of the match will top the table and earn a first-round bye when elimination bracket play starts later tomorrow.

The second-seeded Brouwer and Meeuwsen opened Pool B play with a 21-14, 21-15 win over 31st-seeded Filip Silic and Ivan Zeljkovic of Croatia before defeating 18th-seeded Grant O'Gorman and Sam Pedlow of Canada 21-16, 14-21, 15-13.

Brouwer and Meeuwsen are set to end their group play against 15th-seeded Jefferson Santos Pereira and Cherif Younousse of Qatar. 

Defending women’s champions Barbora Hermannova and Markéta Sluková topped Pool C
Defending women’s champions Barbora Hermannova and Markéta Sluková topped Pool C ©FIVB

Defending women’s champions Barbora Hermannova and Markéta Sluková of the Czech Republic extended their winning streak at the event to 10 matches to win Pool C.

After posting wins yesterday over teams from Russia and Sweden, the 14th-seeds scored a 21-17, 19-21, 15-10 pool-clinching win over third-seeded Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska of Poland to earn a first-round bye for the start of elimination play tomorrow.

"I think our strategy for the match was very good," said Sluková, who is playing in her ninth FIVB World Tour event with Hermannova.

"The Polish girls had posted some very good results lately with a medal at March’s Rio Grand Slam, so we are very pleased with our play today.

"Again, our tactics were very good."

With the eight pool winners netting a bye for the first-round of tomorrow’s elimination schedule, the second-place and third-place finishers in each group will be slotted into the first-round of bracket play.

The women’s quarter-finals will also be played tomorrow.