With a pair of wins each here Friday in the US$175,000 Keihan/SMFG Japan Open at the historic Nakanoshima Park on an island between the Ookawa and Tosabori Rivers, the teams of Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China and Tamsin Barnett/Natalie Cook of Australia earned a day off from competing on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.
While the Chinese earned their third-straight SWATCH "final four" berth this season and 16th overall on the international Beach Volleyball circuit, Barnett and Cook will be playing in their second FIVB semi-final with their only other appearance being in Korea last season when the Australians captured the Seoul gold medal.
The third-seeded Xue and Zhang and the eighth-seeded Barnett and Cook will now be watching from the Nakanoshima Park centre court stands Saturday when four elimination matches featuring three teams from Brazil and tandems from China, Germany and the United States will be played to determine the last two semi-final spots.
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