Latvia’s Abolins Armands and Benjavs Toms were one of three male pairings that advanced from the country quota matches on the opening day of the FIVB Antalya Open ©FIVB

Latvia's Abolins Armands and Benjavs Toms were one of three male pairings that advanced from the country quota matches on the opening day of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Antalya Open.

Armands and Toms beat Latvian rivals Ingars Ivanovs and Ruslans Sorokins 18-21, 21-19, 15-12, while Estonia’s Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar defeated compatriots Karl Jaani and Kristo Kollo 17-21, 21-15, 17-15, and Germany’s Armin Dollinger and Yannick Harms overcame fellow countrymen Sebastian Fuchs and Stefan Windscheif 21-15, 21-15.

After tomorrow’s 32-team, 24-match qualifier, where eight pairs will earn spots in the "money" rounds, the men’s main draw pool matches will be played on Thursday (May 12) and Friday (May 13).

These will be followed by three elimination rounds on Saturday (May 14) and then the semi-finals and medal contests on Sunday (May 15).

Women’s qualifying matches also took place today as eight teams advanced to tomorrow’s opening pool play matches on the BeachPark and Akdeniz University courts.

Twelfth seeds Milena Matic and Marija Milosevic of Serbia were among them after defeating Italy’s Rebecca Perry and Agata Zuccarelli 21-11, 21-19 and then Spain’s Angela Lobato and Paula Soria 14-21, 21-15, 15-13.

The two wins marked the first time during the 2016 portion of the 2015-16 FIVB World Tour calendar that Matic and Milosevic have advanced from an international qualifier after failing to advance from the preliminary rounds at recent stops in Chinese cities Xiamen and Fuzhou, and Russian city Sochi.

Serbia's Milena Matic (pictured) and partner Marija Milosevic won two qualifying matches today
Serbia's Milena Matic (pictured) and partner Marija Milosevic won two qualifying matches today ©FIVB

"What a relief," said the 30-year-old Milosevic.

"We had a lot of issues in playing the last month in China and Russia, but we had them worked out today.

"The goal was to stay patient and positive with each other."

Top seeds Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude were one of three German duos to qualify along with second-seeded Victoria Bieneck and Julia Grossner, and third-seeded Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider.

Other women's qualifiers were fourth-seeded Anastasia Barsuk and Alexandra Moiseeva of Russia, eighth-seeded Amaranta Navarro and Ester Ribera of Spain, 10th-seeded Jagoda Gruszczynska and Dorota Strag of Poland, and 11th-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova of the Czech Republic.

The Antalya Open is the part of the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

This week’s event will be the 25th of 28 women’s events, and the 27th of 30 men’s stops.