Tough Chinese to meet in beach volleyball semi-finals

By Jane Barrett

BEIJING (Reuters) - Both Chinese teams crushed their opponents in the women's Olympic beach volleyball on Sunday and will meet in the semi-finals, assuring the host nation of at least a silver medal.

Top seed Tian Jia and Wang Jie made short work of Austria 21-12 21-12 in the morning and were later joined by Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, who stormed past the United States 21-17, 21-13.

They will play each other in the semi-finals on August 19. One will play for bronze and the other for gold two days later.

"We'll do our best against them. But whichever team wins, China wins," said Xue, the youngest player in the event at 19.

Australian Natalie Cook, who has played at all four Olympics since beach volleyball joined the Games in 1996, put her money on Xue.

"She's a freak really. She's 19 and she's fearless. If China 2 can get over China 1, we'll see the best beach volleyball in the final," Cook said after losing her quarter-final to Brazil's second pair Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro.

The winner of the all-China semi will meet either the Brazilians or Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, the defending champions and triple world champions who have not lost a match for almost a year and have never dropped a set in the Olympics.

"I don't think many people have a chance against them. People talk about athletic greats like Federer, Woods and Nadal but Kerri and Misty are right up there given the results they've got and continue to get seemingly effortlessly," said Cook.

Earlier on Sunday, the American duo swept past the top-ranked Brazilian team of Larissa Franca and Ana Paula Connelly, who only teamed up nine days ago when Larissa's partner withdrew injured.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)