Sanya, China, October 29, 2009 - If their current "routine" of SWATCH FIVB World Tour results were to continue, Spaniards Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira figured to conclude their international Beach Volleyball campaign without reaching the semi-finals at this week's season-ending men's event on Sanya Bay.

Entering this week's US$380,000 Sanya Open presented by Olympic Bay, Herrera and Gavira had a string of seven events where every "odd-numbered" stop featured a podium placement for the Spaniards with each "even" tournament netting a finish of fifth or lower.

With a pair of wins here Thursday over teams from Spain and China, second-seeded Herrera and Gavira changed their recent pattern by securing a spot in Friday afternoon's semi-finals in an "even-numbered" event along with Chinese Olympians and ninth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu.

The third-ranked team on the international circuit, the 27-year old Herrera and the 22-year old Gavira advanced to their fifth SWATCH FIVB World Tour "final four" this season in 11 events as the Spaniards have posted a pair of silver medal placements this season along with two third-place finishes.

Herrera, a two-time Olympian and a silver medal winner at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games with Javier Bosma, and Gavira started their "odd and even routine" in July with a bronze medal placement in Switzerland followed by a ninth the next week in Moscow followed by a second France, a fifth in Austria, a third in Poland, a fifth in Finland and a second in The Netherlands at the end of August.

After defeating Spanish rivals and seventh-seeded Inocencio Lario and Raul Mesa 21-19, 10-21 and 15-11 in 53 minutes in the first-ever international meeting between the two teams, Herrera and Gavira scored a 21-19 and 21-17 win in 47 minutes over 27th-seeded Peng Gao and Jian Li of China. With four wins this week, Herrera and Gavira improved their SWATCH season match mark to 49-14.

After separating for 14 months after placing ninth at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games together, Wu and Xu reunited for this week's Sanya Open by winning all four of their matches featuring Thursday's wins over 17th-seeded Thomas Kaczmarek/Mischa Urbatzka of Germany (21-13 and 21-19, 42 minutes) and fourth-seeded Tarjei Skarlund/Martin Spinnangr of Norway (21-14 and 21-14, 34).

For Wu and Xu, it will be their ninth "final four" appearance in 41 SWATCH FIVB World Tour events together as the pair posted five silver medal finishes in 2008 before the Beijing Olympics. Earlier this season, Wu had a fifth with Jialu Li in Shanghai while Wu finished 13th with Rui Yin.

The last two Sanya Open "final four" spots will be determined before Friday's semi-finals. Herrera and Gavira will await the winner of elimination matches starting with top-seeded Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil of The Netherlands against 13th-seeded Sebastian Dollinger/Stefan Windscheif of Germany with the winner playing Skarlund and Spinnangr for a semi-final spot.

The 14th-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo and Paolo) of Italy play an opening elimination Friday against 16th-seeded Yury Bogatov/Serguei Prokopiev of Russia with the winner challenging Gao and Li for a "final four" spot opposite of Wu and Xu. The Russians upset fifth-seeded Benjamin Insfran and Thiago Santos Barbosa of Brazil (21-13, 17-21 and 15-10, 60 minutes) to advance. Benjamin won the inaugural Sanya Open with Harley Marques as Xu placed fourth with Jialu Li.

With the Sanya Open being the 14th and final men's event on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the men's medal matches will be played Saturday where the winning team will share the $30,000 first-place prize. The Sanya Open also features women's competition where Main Draw play started Thursday with the "final four" matches being played Sunday on the courts in front of the Hai Po.