LONDON -- Defending world champions Emanuel and Alison of Brazil struggled through an extended first set to beat Italy on Thursday and win their pool at the London Olympics.
The Brazilians beat Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo 26-24, 21-18.
Thursday was the final day of the preliminary round. The top two teams in each four-person pool advance, with the best third-place teams relegated to a lucky loser round later Thursday.
Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal finished their pool play with a No. 1 seed on Wednesday. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser were scheduled to play later Thursday night.
In other action, Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia beat Reinder Nummerdor and Rich Schuil of the Netherlands in a matchup of unbeatens. Both teams advanced to the knockout round.
Spain beat Japan 21-19, 22-20, and Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik of Germany beat Venezuela 20-22, 21-16, 15-11.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
