SHANGHAI, CHINA, May 3, 2008 - Another day, but the same results for Beach Volleyball power Brazil as two women’s team from the South American country earned “final four” berths through the elimination bracket here Saturday at the US$350,000 China Shanghai Jinshan Open.
Like Friday when two Brazilian men’s teams netted semi-final spots via the contender’s bracket, the tandems of top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca and fifth-seeded Shelda Bede/Ana Paula Connelly advanced to the “final four” to give the South Americans three pairs seeking podium placements in the second-straight SWATCH FIVB World Tour event this season.
Fourth-seeded Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro upset Juliana and Larissa Friday afternoon to advance to the semi-finals as the first Brazilian team while host China secured a spot in the “final four” when third-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang netted a spot in the medal rounds. The women’s medal matches are Sunday as the Jinshan Beach gold medal teams split the $28,000 first-place prizes.
China will have a men’s team in China Shanghai Jinshan Open in Saturday’s medal matches as fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu challenge second-seeded Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado of Brazil for the $28,000 first-place prize. Brazil is guaranteed the bronze medal as third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes play seventh-seed Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto in the third-place match.
Juliana and Larissa, who will be seeking their third China Shanghai Jinshan Open medal after winning here in 2005 and placing third in 2006, face Xue and Zhang in Saturday’s second semi-final match after Talita and Renata play Shelda and Ana Paula in the first “final four” match. All three Brazilian teams were on the women’s podium in the SWATCH season opener in March as Juliana and Larissa defeated Talita and Renata for the gold medal in Australia.
With 45 FIVB “final four” finishes together in 53 SWATCH stops since start of the 2004 season, Juliana and Larissa will be seeking their 42nd podium placement on the international circuit where the Brazilians have won 20 gold medals. Juliana and Larissa, who have reached 42 women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-finals in their last 44 starts, rank third in all-time earnings ($1,267,850) behind Adriana Behar/Shelda($2,207,965) and Americans Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh ($1,410,040).
While Juliana and Larissa, the three-time SWATCH FIVB World Tour champions, only had to play one elimination match Saturday with a 21-15 and 21-13 win in 43 minutes over sixth-seeded Tamsin Barnett and Natalie Cook of Australia, Shelda and Ana Paula had to defeat teams from Greece and Germany to advance to second SWATCH semi-final in three FIVB events together.
Shelda and Ana Paula, who also lost Friday to Talita and Renata, opened play Saturday with a 21-15 and 21-18 win in 43 minutes over ninth-seeded Vasso Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece. The Brazilians then advanced to the semi-finals with a 21-14, 15-21 and 15-12 victory over seventh-seeded Rieke Brink-Abeler and Hella Jurch of Germany |
