Katja Stam and Raïsa Schoon have a mountain to climb in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after losing their first match ©Getty Images

Dutch world number one duo Katja Stam and Raïsa Schoon were defeated in their opening match of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event in Gstaad, losing a deciding set to Japanese pair Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe.

They went down by a score of 24-26, 21-14, 15-9 in Pool H in the women's tournament.

Brazilians Carol Solberg Salgado and Barbara Seixas de Freitas, the world number twos, started with a win, but took three sets to defeat Swiss pair Anna Lutz and Menia Bentele 21-18, 14-21, 15-11.

Their compatriots and fifth seeds Duda Lisboa and Ana Patrícia of Brazil defeated Finland's Niina Ahtiainen and Taru Lahti-Liukkonen 21-14, 21-14.

Andre Loyola and George Wanderley of Brazil also lost their opening match in the men's tournament ©Getty Images
Andre Loyola and George Wanderley of Brazil also lost their opening match in the men's tournament ©Getty Images

Andre Loyola and George Wanderley of Brazil, the men's world number ones, also suffered a defeat today in their opening match, losing in three sets 18-21, 21-19, 15-9 to Lukas Pfretzschner and Robin Sowa of Germany.

There were no upsets for Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of Qatar, who won 21-14, 21-19 over Switzerland's Adrian Heidrich and Leo Dillier, followed by a 21-15, 21-16 win against Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis of Australia.

Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway remain undefeated too with a 21-12, 22-20 victory over Quentin Métral of Switzerland and a 21-13, 18-21, 15-10 defeat of Adrián Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain.