The dream of the first Swiss medal at a women's beach volleyball world championship is over. Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré were eliminated in the round of 16 in Adelaide.
18.11.2025, 09:26
18.11.2025, 13:16
SDA
In the end, the Vergé-Dépré siblings were very disillusioned. Empty looks, fake smiles as they were congratulated, followed by the realization that the World Championships in Australia, which had gone so well for them so far, had ended far too soon.
As group winners in the preliminary round, Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré lost to the Americans Julia Donlin/Lexy Denaburg in just under an hour 21:16, 16:21, 11:15. The Swiss duo had never lost to the two Americans before and had not dropped a set in their first two head-to-head matches.
The match got out of hand
But somehow the match got out of hand after a strong start (21:16, 7:6). The USA team stepped up their game; the Swiss were no longer able to find a recipe. They had to concede defeat to the robust Americans. Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré never led again in the tie-break.
A frustrating day for the Swiss delegation ended late at night on the covered center court in Adelaide. At the start of the knockout phase, all four teams in the field lost. Only Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier remain in the tournament. They will play their round of 16 match against Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot from the Netherlands on Wednesday night.
No luck in the competition
Leona Kernen and Annique Niederhauser, the 2023 U21 World Championship silver medallists, were eliminated by the strong Spaniards Daniela Alvarez/Tania Morena - with exactly the same score as the Vergé-Dépré siblings (21:16, 16:21, 11:15).
The men's teams also lacked competitive luck. Adrian Heidrich and Jonathan Jordan were the first to suffer in the play-off. They had a clear lead against the Austrians Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger in both sets (4:0 in the first and 9:5 in the second), but lost 15:21, 17:21.
Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli then also got stuck in the round of 16. They lost to France's Rémi Bassereau/Calvin Aye 11:21, 21:18, 9:15. Haussener/Friedli had their best phase in the match in the second set, which they won after trailing 7:9.
