The home favourites, who won the bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, reached the last-16 with a 21-14, 18-21, 15-7 triumph at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark. 

"Our goal is to win this tournament," Brouwer said.

"Winning our pool to reach the final-16 and skip a round of elimination is nice.

"However, we really like beach volleyball and wouldn't mind to playing an extra match as we like to play as many as we can."

Next up for the 2013 FIVB world champions are Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, the 20th-seeded qualifiers who opened play today by losing 20-22, 29-31 in their Pool E match against Austria’s Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst.

The result meant they had to compete in the first round of elimination, which saw them overcome the United States’ William Allen and Stafford Slick 12-21, 21-12, 15-13.

Among the other pairings still in contention are Canada’s Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter after they beat the US’s Casey Patterson and Theodore Brunner 21-13, 21-14 in Pool H and then defeated Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen 21-17, 18-21, 15-5 in the first round of elimination.

Eight teams remain in contention for the women’s title following the conclusion of the second elimination round. 

Among them are top-seeded Brazilians Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca, who beat Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Olga Motrich 19-21, 21-11, 15-9 in round one and Germany’s Isabel Schneider and Victoria Bieneck 21-16, 19-21, 15-13 in round two.

Awaiting them in the quarter-finals are compatriots Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa after they defeated The Netherlands’ Marleen Ramond-van Iersel and Manon Nummerdor-Flier 21-16, 21-13 and Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart 21-13, 21-16.

Another Brazilian pairing through to the last eight are 15th seeds Maria Antonelli and Carolina Salgado, who came from behind to beat The Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink and Sanne Keizer 19-21, 21-14, 17-15 in round two.

Standing between them and the semi-finals are Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Louise Bawden following their 21-19, 21-16 win over Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannová and Marketa Slukova.

The two other quarter-final ties see Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Heidrich face the US's Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross, and Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson meet Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in an all-Canadian contest.

Tomorrow's action will culminate in the men's and women's semi-finals.

The medal matches are scheduled for Sunday (June 18).