U.S., China storm into semis of beach volleyball

By Jane Barrett

BEIJING (Reuters) - Defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh waltzed into the semi-finals of the Olympic beach volleyball on Sunday by beating the Brazilians while China made short work of Austria.

May-Treanor and Walsh, triple world champions, have not lost a match in almost a year and have still never lost a set at the Olympics since they first appeared in Athens four years ago.

On Sunday they beat Larissa Franca and Ana Paula Connelly 21-18 21-15 although they still criticized their own play.

"We're always hard on ourselves. Today our rhythm was off," May-Treanor said.

Nonetheless, they managed to exploit gaps in a Brazilian pair that only teamed up nine days ago when Larissa's usual partner Juliana pulled out with a knee injury. The new duo had a tough time gelling at first but improved hugely in the last couple of games.

"It's been tough on them but they're Brazil and Brazil in beach volleyball is always going to be great, no matter what," May-Treanor said.

Ana Paula, 36, left the stadium in tears while Larissa took the loss on the chin and set her sights on London 2012.

"I feel very happy that we got over that challenge. Now I'll wait for Juliana to get better and we go again," she said.