Antonelli and Salgado, seeded first in women's qualification having won two country quota matches yesterday, registered a 24-26, 21-16, 21-19 victory to secure a main-draw berth at the Vodny Stadium Beach Sports Centre.

Despite playing in their first-ever FIVB event together, Antonelli and Salgado entered this week’s event with a combined 259 international starts and 13 Beach World Tour gold medals.

Among the other pairings ensuring their place in the main draw today was 14th-seeded Magdalena Dostalova and Karolina Rehackova of the Czech Republic.

After posting an 18-21, 21-14, 16-14 win over China’s Xinxin Wang and Chen Xue, the pair registered an impressive 13-21, 21-15, 17-15 victory over third-seeded Phoebe Bell and Nicole Laird of Australia.

Second-seeded Karla Borger and Margareta Kozuch of Germany are also through after defeating Greece’s Panagiota Karagkouni and Konstantina Tsopoulou 21-17, 21-12.

Joining them are fourth-seeded Jolien Sinnema and Joy Stubbe of The Netherlands, courtesy of their 21-19, 16-21, 25-23 success at the expense of Russia’s Alexandra Moiseeva and Ekaterina Syrtseva.

In men's qualification, 21st-seeded Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of the Czech Republic guaranteed their progression with two wins today.

Perusic and Schweiner opened with a 16-21, 23-21, 18-16 victory over 12th-seeded Rahman Raoufi and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun of Iran.

This was followed by a 21-18, 20-22, 15-10 win over Argentina's Julian Azaad and Nicolas Capogrosso.

Perusic and Schweiner only gained a spot in qualification after the late withdrawal of a team from England.

Main-draw action is scheduled to begin tomorrow.

The elimination rounds will be played on Friday (June 2) and Saturday (June 3) before the medal matches take centre stage on Sunday (June 4).

The event in Russia’s capital is the sixth double-gender stop on the 2017 FIVB Beach World Tour calendar and eighth overall this season.