Pavan, Humana-Paredes end 2-plus year beach volleyball tour title drought

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes gained a measure of revenge and their first beach volleyball tour win since the 2019 Vienna Major.

The Canadian duo outlasted Bárbara Seixas and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil in the women's final, prevailing 21-19, 20-22, 15-7 at Pro Tour Elite 16event in Jurmala, Latvia.

Last June 6, Pavan and Humana-Paredes were swept 21-15, 21-16 in 37 minutes by Barbara and Carol in the bronze-medal match at the Ostrava Beach Open in the Czech Republic.

Sunday's final was the fourth time in six matches in Jurmala the Brazilians played the full three sets.

For Pavan and Humana-Paredes, they wereeliminated in Ostrava on May 27 after posting a 1-2 record in pool play on the heels of a second-place finish at the AVP Austin Open in Texas.

The reigning world champions advanced to Sunday's final after rallying for a 18-21, 21-19, 15-10 semifinal victory over Brazil's Eduarda (Duda) Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos on Saturday.

Lisboa and Ramos beat Americans Sara Hughes and Kelley Kolinske (21-19, 21-17) in the bronze-medal match earlier Sunday.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes split Thursday's matches, defeating Brazil's Maria Antonelli and Fernanda Alves in their opener and suffering a 2-0 sweep (21-19, 21-17) at the hands of top-ranked Dutch duo Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam.

They are preparing to defend their 2019 world title starting this coming week in Italy.

You can stream that tournament on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.