Tian Jia and Wang Fei, who handed Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar their first quarter-final ouster in two years at last week's FIVB World Tour event in Berlin, failed to upset the Brazilian veterans again at the US$560,000 FIVB World Tour women's beach volleyball ConocoPhillips Grand Slamon Thursday.

The third-seeded Chinese, losing Thursday's quarters 21-9, 21-17 in 36 minutes, are ranked second in the world rankings with 1,920 points, following the top-ranked

Karadassiou and Arvaniti are ranked fourth internationally with1,280 points behind Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca (2,460) and ahead of Shelda/Adriana (1,880) and Vassiliki Karadassiou and Vassiliki Arvaniti of Greece.

"We are playing a lot better," said Adriana. "The last three weeks have been a struggle due to Shelda's right shoulder problems. She is feeling pretty good right now. It helped that we were able to play an all-around game today with Shelda being able to attack the ball aggressively."

It is Shelda and Adriana's 85th semi-final in 94 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour events, where the Brazilian pair have claimed 31 titles and 77 podium placements with 1,896,116 US dollars in career earnings together.

The Brazilian duo will next face a pair advancing to the semis through elimination matches, which pit the top-seeded Juliana and Larissa, the fourth-seeded Stephanie Pohl/Okka Rau of Germany and the sixth-seeded Rebekka Kadijk/Merel Mooren of the Netherlands.

Karadassiou and Arvaniti, the fifth seeds who upset Juliana andLarissa 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 in 64 minutes, will play the winner of the elimination matches between Tian Jia/Wang Fei, the Salgados and 19th-seeded Milagros Crespo/Imara Esteves Ribalta of Cuba.

Two elimination rounds will be played Friday before the afternoon semi-finals. The women's medal matches will be Saturday where the winning teams shares the $41,500 first-place prize for the second of four Grand Slam events this season on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2005)