Sviridova and Grimson and Bello brothers triumph at UK Beach Tour Grand Slam Finals

The competition began with qualification matches on Friday to decide who would compete in the tournament over the weekend. 

With the weekend being the warmest of the year so far, players battled through the heat and some exceptional matches were played. 

The pool matches on Saturday produced a superb result for fourth seeds Maria Sviridova and Jessica Grimson, taking pool A over the first seeds of Katie Barbour and Rachel Morrison.

The pair fought back from a first set loss of 21-19 to take the second set 21-15 and the deciding set 15-8.

The teams returned to Bournemouth Beach on Sunday to play in the playoffs and the finals. 14th Seed Oliver Quick and Jake Sanders, who had progressed impressively from their pool faced number one seeds and recent EuroBeachVolley 2023 quarter-finalists, Javier and Joaquin Bello, in their quarter-final.

But that match proved a bridge too far as the England international duo used all of their experience to prevail 21-14, 21-11.

After remaining unbeaten and only dropping one set on Saturday, Sviridova and Grimson continued their momentum into the quarters, winning in straight sets against Kirsty Star and Alana Snow to set up a semi-final showdown with second seeds Lynne Beattie and Mel Coutts.

Beattie and Coutts, meanwhile, had made it into the semis with a strong win over Melissanthi Papacharalampous and Angelica Pontes dos Santos. 

Sviridova and Grimson showed their skill and the experience in the last four contest, winning again in straight sets taking them to the final against the only pair who had been able to take a set off the pair, Katie Barbour and Rachel Morrison.

In this second meeting, however, Sviridova and Grimson’s play eventually proved too much for their opponents to handle after a tight first set and they ran out 2-0 victors via a 21-19, 21-12 scoreline. 

In the men's competition, the Bello brothers went into the final having not dropped a set. They took on the recent bronze medalists from the Beach Pro Tour in Burundi, Josue Seekings and their younger brother Enrique Bello.

Both pairs had gone unbeaten all tournament, with Bello and Seekings dropping just the one set in their quarter-final. 

But it was the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Bronze medallists who quickly took charge to secure the gold medal, securing a 21-16, 21-12 success.

The bronze medal matches saw both matches well-contested and go to three sets.

In the women's, Victoria Palmer and Mhairi Wallace beat Beattie and Coutts 21-17, 19-21, 15-10, while in the men's, Haydn Lawson and Niko Gleed edged out Harry Jones and Matthew Hunter 21-10, 20-22, 15-10.

Click here for the full weekend results.