Americans Hughes and Cheng advance to quarterfinals in Paris Olympics beach volleyball tournament

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United States’ Kelly Cheng, center, and Sara Hughes celebrate their victory over Italy in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner, a four-time Olympian, reacts to the crowd’s applause after her team’s loss to Switzerland in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Australia’s Taliqua Clancy acknowledges the crowd after defeating Brazil in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Switzerland’s Nina Brunner, left, and Tanja Hueberli celebrate during their victory over Spain in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Brazil’s Barbara Seixas de Freitas , left, gives encouragement to Brazil’s Carolina Solberg Salgado in a beach volleyball match against Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Brazil’s Barbara Seixas de Freitas dives for the ball in a beach volleyball match against Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Brazil’s George Souto Maior Wanderley, left, and Andre Loyola Stein slap hands during a beach volleyball match against Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Sweden’s David Ahmad celebrates in a beach volleyball match against Cuba at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Sweden’s Jonatan Hellvig hits the sand after diving for the ball in a beach volleyball match against Cuba at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Sweden’s David Ahmad dives fe the ball in a beach volleyball match against Cuba at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Czechia’s David Schweiner serves in a beach volleyball match against Netherlands at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Netherland’s Stefan Boermans celebrates in a beach volleyball match against Czechia at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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China’s Xia Xinyi reaches for a shot in a beach volleyball match against Switzerland at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Germany’s Nils Ehlers, left, and Clemens Wickler celebrate their victory over Brazil in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior hugs Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci during their victory over Netherlands in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Brazil’s Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci smashes the ball by Netherland’s Steven van de Velde in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Italy’s Samuele Cottafava goes up for the block against United States’ Kelly Cheng in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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United States’ Kelly Cheng returns a shot against Italy in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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Italy’s Samuele Cottafava, right, hits teammate Paolo Nicolai after losing to the United States in a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

By JIMMY GOLEN

PARIS (AP) — Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes lost a set for the first time in the Paris Olympics beach volleyball tournament.

All that did was fire them up.

“When we bring the fire, the energy, the passion, we play better. So, we want to bring that all the time,” Hughes said after beating Italy 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 on Sunday. “Kelly and I really fight to stay in that present moment, and that really helps our team.”

Hughes and Cheng, the defending world champions, trailed 17-16 in the first set before scoring five of the next six points. In the second, Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentia Gottardi scored five points in a row to pull away after an 8-8 tie.

In the third, the Italians erased an early six-point deficit and closed to 12-11. Cheng and Hughes, pumping their fists and kicking up sand in celebration like they hadn’t in their previous matches, made it 14-11 and then clinched on their second match point.

“It’s not pool play anymore,” Cheng said. “You lose and you’re out. So for sure there’s emotions. It’s something we’ve been working for for a long time. So, yeah, the points, you feel them, for sure.”

The Americans’ next match is against Switzerland’s Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner, who beat Spain earlier Sunday.

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In the other night match, Brazil’s Evandro and Arthur eliminated the Dutch team of Matthew Immers and Steven van de Velde. Van de Velde was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016.

Defending world champions David Schweiner and Ondrej Perusic from Czechia fell to the other Dutch team earlier in the round of 16.

“We knew that if we can play well, we can beat them,” said Holland’s Yorick de Groot. “But for the last four matches they beat us, and we’ve been struggling against them.”

The Netherlands will play Germany in the quarterfinals.

“The last time we played them was also the first time we beat them, so that was a good feeling for us and we’re going to take a lot of that into the next game,” said his teammate, Stefan Boermans. “They will also definitely see the footage back from that match and will adjust.”

The Czechs played in Tokyo but didn’t make it out of the group stage.

“To be a bit positive, it was a way, way better experience than Tokyo. Finally we experienced real Olympics,” Schweiner said. “It was an unbelievable venue. The city, the country, the whole Europe is really living for the Olympics. It’s amazing and we’re feeling really privileged to go through it, to be here.”

Sweden, which arrived in Paris as the No. 1 team in the world, went just 1-2 in the group stage to land a tough Cuban team in the round of 16. The Swedes won the first set 21-11 but then fell in an extended second, 28-26, before clinching with a 15-11 result in the decisive third set.

“We only said that we have to go for it,” 22-year-old first-time Olympian David Ahman said. “’It’s going to be super tough, but we have to take every chance and believe in ourselves. Let’s go for it.’ And that’s what we did.”

In earlier women’s matches, Australia defeated the Brazilian team of Carolina and Barbara 2-0. Switzerland’s two women’s teams both won in straight sets: Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner beat China, and Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner knocked out four-time Olympian Liliana Fernandez Steiner and her partner, Paula Soria Gutierrez, of Spain.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)