Sanya Open 2012: Xue Chen & Zhang Xi lead 8 teams

Three tandems from Brazil, two from Austria and one each from Italy and Switzerland also won two matches in a row on Thursday to stay in the upper bracket.

"It’ s really hot here in Sanya. We are very happy to win two matches in a row today, otherwise it would be really difficult to play in the lower bracket," said Xue Chen. "I think it’ s a very good start for us."

Playing on home soil, the 2010 Sanya Open champions were widely considered title favorites, but Zhang Xi preferred to keep a low profile. "It’ s just a beginning (of the Olympic season), I think we need to work really hard, step by step, to achieve our goal," she said.

Ninth seeded Zhang Changning/Ma Yuanyuan, the other Chinese tandem in contention, were not as lucky as Xue/Zhang. Dropping to a 1-1 win-loss record following an upset loss 16-21, 21-15 and 15-9 against Italy’ s 25th seeds Gioria Daniela/Giulia Momoli Thursday afternoon. Zhang/Ma were sent to the losers bracket of the double-elimination Main Draw tournament.

Reigning world champions and second seeds Larissa Franca/Juliana Falisberta Da Silva, third seeds Maria Antonelli/Talita Da Rocha Antunes, 11th seeds Angela Vieira/Liliane Maestrini, all from Brazil, and 2009 Sanya Open champions Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland were other teams undefeated.

Antonelli/Talita, who lost to Zhang/Xue in the women’ s gold medal match of last week’ s season-opening Brasilia Open, bounced back to clinch a pair of 2-0 wins for a fine start in Sanya. "I’ m very happy, it’ s very hot today. If we win tomorrow, we will have a chance to go to the semifinals. And here in Sanya it’ s very difficult to play because of the weather," said Maria.

The Main Draw tournament of the US$190,000 Sanya Open will continue on Friday and Saturday with the finale set for Sunday. The gold medal teams will split US$30,000, the silver US$21,000 and the bronze US$15,000.

The tournament is the first of three single gender events for women in the 2012 season, which also includes three single gender events for men along with nine double-gender events.

Sanya is hosting the FIVB SWATCH World Tour event for the fifth year in a row and this year’ s Sanya Open is also included as a part of the Beach Volleyball Qualification Tournament for the 2012 London Olympic Games.