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Portuguese duo João Pedrosa and Hugo Campos have advanced to the Round of 16 at the Beach Pro Tour Challenge in Alanya, Turkey, where they are set to face Swiss pair Julian Friedli and Jonathan Jordan.
The four-time national champions, coached by Ricardo Rocha, secured their spot in the next phase by defeating Czech Republic's Jakub Sepka and Jiri Sedlaka 2-1 (21-15, 24-26, 15-12) in the Round of 24. This victory guarantees the Portuguese pair, who had previously beaten the same opponents in 2024, at least a ninth-place finish in the competition, earning them 460 ranking points and a prize of $3,250.
The Portuguese duo's tournament journey, which runs until Sunday, began with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) group stage win against Germany's Paul Henning and Lukas Pfretzschner. However, in their final Pool B match, Pedrosa and Campos suffered a 0-2 (13-21, 18-21) defeat to Italian second seeds Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso.
Their participation in this tournament follows a 25th-place finish at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. That event marked the athletes' return to the World Tour after emphatically securing Portugal's qualification for the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup finals, scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary, from July 16 to 19.
The 2026 season has been a busy one for the four-time national champions. In addition to qualifying for the Nations Cup, their notable achievements include a third-place finish at the Dusseldorf stop of the German Tour, a ninth-place finish at the Beach Pro Tour Challenge in Tlaxcala, Mexico, and a 19th-place finish at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 in João Pessoa, Brazil.
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