Rio de Janeiro, August 8, 2016 - 2013 World Champions Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands will look to move to 2-0 in pool B against Germany's Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, who lost their first-round match in straight sets.
Head to Head
Brouwer/Meeuwsen have won three of the four meetings against Bockermann/Fluggen, dating back to April, 2015. Their first meeting was in the gold medal match at the season-opening Fuzhou Open in 2015 where the Germans were triumphant 21-19 and 21-19 in 40 minutes. The Dutch won the next three meetings, in three sets in a round of 24 match at the Porec Major in June, 2015, in straight sets in pool play at the Long Beach Grand Slam, and in three sets in the quarterfinals at this season's Vitória Open in March.
Historically the #2 seed has won all three meetings against the #14 seed in the Olympic Games. All three have been in pool play, and all three have been in straight sets. The closest match was in Athens (2004) where both sets went into overtime, with the higher seed prevailing, 23-21 and 22-20.
Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands, Seed #2, Pool B, 1-0, MAX Set Ratio, 1.4483 Point Ratio, Qualified 2nd with 6,470 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Alexander: November 3, 1989 (26y9m3d), 198 cm (6'6"), 88 kg (195 lbs.), Hometown Leiden, 70th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $314,050 career winnings (ranks 61st)
• Robert: March 21, 1988 (28y4m16d), 207 cm (6'9"), 92 kg (204 lbs.), Hometown Nieuwegein, 61st FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $305,862 career winnings (ranks 66th)
• Alexander and Robert have been playing together since 2011. They are playing in their 59th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together (ranks 42nd), two gold medals, $611,725 career winnings (ranks 27th).
• Alexander has played in 13 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, five silver, three bronze medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Robert has played in 13 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, five silver, three bronze medals and three 4th place finishes.
• Alexander and Robert have played in 10 Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Fuzhou Open 2015, Silver Lucerne Open 2015, Gold Porec Major 2015, Bronze Gstaad Major 2015, 4th Long Beach Grand Slam 2015, 4th World Tour Finals 2015, Silver Puerto Vallarta Open 2015-16, Bronze Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam 2016, Bronze Vitória Open 2016, Silver Hamburg Major 2016).
• Alexander and Robert won the gold medal in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and finished 17th in 2015 (The Hague).
• Alexander and Robert are currently ranked 9th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 4,190 points and 5th in winnings with $148,375.
• Alexander and Robert have a career 176-102 (63.3%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 86-33 (72.3%) record in 2015-16.
• Alexander won the silver medal at the U21 World Championships with Christiaan Varenhorst in 2008 (Brighton, England).
• Alexander and Robert won one silver medal and one bronze medal on the European (CEV) Continental Tour in 2012-15.
• Defeated Dmitri Barsouk / Nikita Liamin, Russia (23), 21-15 and 21-14 in 37 minutes
Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany, Seed #14, Pool B, 0-1, 0.000 Set Ratio, 0.7273 Point Ratio, Qualified 15th with 4,850 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period
• Markus: January 14, 1986 (30y6m23d), 198 cm (6'6"), 95 kg (211 lbs.), Hometown Hamburg, 68th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $147,800 career winnings
• Lars: May 24, 1990 (26y2m13d), 192 cm (6'4"), 80 kg (178 lbs.), Hometown Berlin, 36th FIVB World Tour event, two gold medals, $113,475 career winnings
• Markus and Lars have been playing together since 2015. They are playing in their 24th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, two gold medals, $151,750 career winnings.
• Markus has played in seven FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, three silver medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Lars has played in eight FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, four silver medals and two 4th place finishes.
• Markus and Lars have played in seven Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Gold Fuzhou Open 2015, Silver Rio de Janeiro Open 2015, Silver Xiamen Open 2015, 4th Puerto Vallarta Open 2015-16, Gold Doha Open 2015-16, 4th Doha Open 2016, Silver Antalya Open 2016).
• Markus finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships with Mischa Urbatzka in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Markus and Lars are currently ranked 13th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,930 points and 19th in winnings with $81,750.
• Markus and Lars have a career 78-47 (62.4%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Markus won the silver medal at the European (CEV) Baden Masters with Mischa Urbatzka in 2013 (Baden, Austria).
• Lars won the silver medal at the CEV Novi Sad Masters with Alexander Walkenhorst in 2013 (Novi Sad, Serbia).
• Lars had knee surgery in April forcing him to miss several FIVB World Tour events.
• Lost to Piotr Kantor / Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 11-21 and 21-23 in 38 minutes.