Sanne Keizer

Career 2002–2004: Junior and early years Keizer made her international beach volleyball debut at the 2002 U18 European Championships in August, where she and Arjanne Stevens won the silver medal. Two weeks later, the pair became the inaugural U18 World Champions with an unbeaten tournament run in Xylokastro, Greece.

Following her success on the junior circuit, Keizer debuted on the FIVB World Tour in 2003, partnering with Merel Mooren at the $150K Hellas Open in June. The duo did not progress past the qualifying rounds in Hellas or in their next four events. In their final tournament of the year at the $150K Lianyungang Open in August, Keizer and Mooren beat teams from Spain and Sweden to advance to Keizer's first main draw on the World Tour. They lost all three of their group stage matches in the main draw and did not progress further.

Keizer and Mooren continued to struggle to qualify for main draws on the World Tour the following year, making it out of the qualifiers twice in their first eight tournaments. They also competed in two events on the Challenger and Satellite circuit in August, winning one gold medal. finishing 25th and 17th respectively.

2005–2007: Partnering with Leenstra After two seasons with Mooren, Keizer switched partners and played with Marrit Leenstra from 2005 to 2007. In the first year of their partnership, the duo did not place higher than 13th in the first ten World Tour events they entered. Seeded 11th at their next tournament, the $200K Montreal Open in August, they upset two top-ten seeds on their way to the semifinals where they lost to Brazil's third-seeded Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro, followed by another loss to Brazil's second-seeded Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar in the bronze-medal match. After Montreal, Keizer and Leenstra had top-ten finishes in four of their last five tournaments of 2005. They also competed in their first World Championships in June as the No. 22 seeds, posting three wins and two losses to tie for 17th place.

Over the next two years, Keizer and Leenstra had limited success on the international circuit and were relegated to the qualifiers for the majority of 2007. Their best results were top-ten finishes at the double-elimination $200K St. Petersburg and Porto Santo Opens in 2006. As the No. 20 seeds in St. Petersburg, they recorded a three-set upset over the third-seeded Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China, before falling to the eighth-seeded Nila Håkedal and Ingrid Tørlen of Norway in the fourth round of the losers bracket. In Porto Santo, the pair finished in seventh place as the No. 16 seeds, scoring upsets over the higher-seeded Cuban teams of Milagros Crespo and Imara Esteves Ribalta, and Dalixia Fernández and Tamara Larrea. They were knocked out of the competition by the eighth seeds from Germany, Rieke Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurich.

Throughout the course of their partnership, Keizer and Leenstra were also active on the Nestea European Championship Tour, winning bronze medals at the €55K German and Swiss Masters in 2006. Keizer took part in the 2006 edition of the European Championships with Leenstra; they fell short of their No. 6 seed and finished ninth. They ended the year 31st in the world rankings.

2008–2010: Partnering with van Iersel

Towards the end of 2008, Keizer changed partners once again and paired up with Marleen van Iersel. After losing their first match, the 13th-seeded Keizer and van Iersel won six consecutive matches to reach the final four, recording upsets over two top-five seeds along the way. They lost to Brazil's top-seeded Juliana Silva and Larissa França in the semifinals, then went on to beat the USA's 26th-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner in the bronze-medal match.

Keizer and van Iersel made three more World Tour semifinals appearances the next season, but did not medal.

2011: First World Tour titles The 2011 season was a breakthrough year for the pair as they became the first European women's team to win back-to-back World Tour titles. They won their first World Tour title at the $190K Shanghai Open in May. Seeded No. 7, they reached the gold-medal match with upsets over three of the top-five seeds, then capped off an undefeated tournament run with a 15–21, 26–24, 15–13 victory over Jennifer Kessy and April Ross of the United States. Later that same month at the $190K Myslowice Open, Keizer and van Iersel were sent to the losers bracket in the third round of the double-elimination competition by Italy's Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti. The pair then won four matches in a row to make it to the finals where they faced Cicolari and Menegatti once again. This time, the Dutch duo beat the Italians in two sets for their second World Tour title. By August however, they had attained another podium finish at the $300K Klagenfurt Grand Slam as the No. 8 seeds, losing only to the fourth-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States in the semifinals, before beating the third-seeded Brazilian duo of Maria Elisa and Talita to win the bronze medal. but found themselves eliminated by Germany's Jana Köhler and Julia Sude in the Round of 16. Keizer and van Iersel also entered 2011 European Championships in August as the No. 1 seeds. They progressed to the quarterfinals where they were upset by the 16th-seeded Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli of Austria, a team that they had beaten earlier in the group stage.

2012: European Champions, London Olympics In the lead up to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Keizer and van Iersel competed at seven World Tour events. They medalled in two of them, winning bronze at the $300K Beijing Grand Slam, followed by silver at the $300K Gstaad Grand Slam. They notched victories against top-ranked teams including the Chinese team of Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, and the American team of Kessy and Ross.

Keizer and van Iersel qualified for the London Olympics on 18 June 2012 via their Olympic ranking points. They entered the tournament ranked fourth in the world and were dubbed a "sleeper team" by player-turned-commentator Kevin Wong. Seeded ninth, they lost their first two group stage matches against the 16th-seeded Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernández of Spain, and the fourth-seeded Kessy and Ross of the United States. A must-win victory over Argentina's No. 21 seeds Ana Gallay and María Zonta ensured they advanced to the Round of 16 where they faced the USA's third-seeded May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings. The Americans defeated them in straight sets, thus ending Keizer and van Iersel's Olympic run.

2013–2017: Hiatus Keizer and van Iersel did not medal on the World Tour in 2013; their highest finish was a fifth at the $220K The Hague Grand Slam. They also took part in the European Championships, advancing to the Round of 16 where they lost the deciding set against their compatriots Jantine van der Vlist and Marloes Wesselink.

Despite her retirement, Keizer continued to enter beach volleyball tournaments every now and then. Playing at the 2017 Dela Beach Open prompted Keizer to consider returning to the sport on a full-time basis. Her subsequent participation in two national tour events—one with Meppelink and one with van Iersel—further convinced her to make a comeback. The pair did not win any of their group stage matches and tied for last place.

Style of play Keizer is a defender and a right-handed right-side player. to go along with being a well-rounded player. Her setting ability in particular has been praised by opponents.

Of the 87 players who competed in a Major Series main draw on the 2018 World Tour, Keizer was ranked 34th for total points scored, averaging 6.21 points per set; 32nd for total kills, averaging 5.71 kills per set; and 35th for number of aces, with around 5.5% of her serves being aces.

Career statistics World Tour finals: 4 (2–2) Legend $400,000 tournaments (0–0) $300,000 tournaments (0–1) $190,000 tournaments (2–0) $75,000 tournaments (0–1) $50,000 tournaments (0–0)

European finals: 2 (2–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentPartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 European Championships Marleen van Iersel Vassiliki Arvaniti Maria Tsiartsiani 21–17, 21–11(0:36)Win 2–0 European Championships Madelein Meppelink Nina Betschart Tanja Hüberli 21–16, 26–24(0:44)

Performance timeline

Current through the 2018 FIVB World Tour Finals. 44

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Note: Only main draw results are considered.