Canada’s Pavan, Humana-Paredes win opener at beach volleyball finals

Canadian duo Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes opened their competition with a straight-sets victory at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals in Sardinia, Italy on Wednesday.

After falling behind in the second set, Pavan and Humaba-Paredes rallied to close out the match with a 25-23 win.

The reigning world champions fell short of their medal aspirations in Tokyo after getting upset in the quarter-finals by Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar in three sets.

WATCH | Pavan, Humana-Paredes defeat Netherlands’ duo in opener of beach volleyball world tour finals:

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals: Canada vs. Netherlands

Watch Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes take on Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink of the Netherlands in the main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals from Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. 51:32

Pavan, of Kitchener, Ont., and Humana-Paredes, of Toronto, next play at the World Tour Finals at 4:30 p.m. ET against the top-ranked Brazilian team of Agatha and Duda.

After a day off on Thursday, the two will play Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joanna Heidrich on Friday at 6 a.m. ET, followed by a 2 p.m. ET match against Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil.

The event is set to run from Wednesday to Sunday, with the quarter-finals, semifinals and medal matches taking place on Saturday and Sunday.