Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil of Team USA were upset by Canada at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Shiokaze Park.
Editor's note: This article will be updated throughout the day's action.
TOUGH DAY FOR TEAM USA
Team USA's ninth-seeded Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil finally fell in their round of 16-match loss to Canada's tenth-seeded Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, 24-22, 18-21, 15-13. The Americans were up a set and six points before their neighbors to the north turned the match around, with the third-set victory hinging on a controversial call.
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Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena looked sharp and solid against highly-touted Qatari duo Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse, winning the first set, but the 41-year-old duo ran out of gas. A hot streak midway through the second set put the Qataris in charge and that momentum carried into the third set. Ahmed and Cherif will meet the winner of a 4am EDT match between Italian duo Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai and Poland's Grzegorz Fijalek and Michal Bryl.
Tokyo Olympics
Watch all the action from the Tokyo Olympics live on NBC
INTERNATIONAL MEN'S MATCHES
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Norway's duo of Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, the top men's beach volleyball pairing in the world, wasted no time against the Netherlands' Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen.
Mol and Sorum won the first set by a score of 21-17, then continued their strong play to win 21-19 in the second. The Dutch duo put pressure on the Norwegians toward the end, but not enough to keep them from winning in straight sets.
SEE MORE: Norway's Sorum/Mol dominates Netherlands in straight sets
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S MATCHES
Ana Patricia and Rebecca combined for 18 digs in a 2-0 defeat of China's Fan Wang and Xinya Xia. The 21-14 first set was on cruise control for the Brazilians, and they outlasted the desperation of their opponents in a 23-21 second set.
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Latvia's Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka were just improbably tough in their upset of Russian Olympic Committee representatives Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina. The Latvians frustrated with 25 digs and the match's only two aces in sandwiching 21-16 and 15-13 sets around a 21-17 ROC win in the second set.
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Should Team USA's April Ross and Alix Klineman advance past Cuba on Monday, their opponent will be German pair Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch.
The Germans got the job done against a tough opponent in Brazil's Agatha and Eduarda, 21-19, 19-21, 16-14.
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An all-Swiss match-up was scrappy, fiery, and well-contested as Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre outlasted Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli 21-12, 19-21, 23-21.
Fellow Swiss but also clearly rivals, the intensity was on full display in a match that went well beyond the minimum amount of third set points.
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The match between Australia's Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar and China's Chen Xue and Xinxin Wang began as a back-and-forth affair. The Australians took the first set by a score of 22-20, but the Chinese didn't make it easy on them.
The second set wasn't quite as close as the first, though. Clancy and Artacho del Solar began running away with it early on and eventually ended the match in straight sets, winning 22-20, 21-13.
