Sanya, China, October 31, 2009 -- Two new teams from Europe will be featured in the "final four" matches at the US$380,000 Sanya Open presented by Olympic Bay after Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr became the first women's team from Switzerland to advance to a SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final after winning a pair of matches here Saturday.

Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti became the first women's team of Italy to compete in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final since 2001 by capturing their "final four" berth Friday along with reigning world champions Jen Kessy and April Ross of the United States as both teams are unbeaten in the competition with 4-0 match marks while the 11th-seeded Kuhn and Zumkehr are now 5-1.

With the 15th-seeded Italians and Swiss playing in the second semi-final Sunday morning with the winner advancing to the afternoon's gold medal match on the Sanya Bay centre court, Kessy and Ross will meet American rivals and third-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner in the first "final four" match featuring three players that placed on the inaugural Sanya Open podium in 2008.

"We are playing with a lot more confidence," said the 29-year old Kuhn after her team's 21-19 and 21-16 win in 41 minutes over fifth-seeded Vassiliki Arvaniti and Maria Tsiartsiani of Greece. "We had a bronze medal finish in our last European event in Russia, so we are feeling a lot more comfortable playing with each other."

Akers and Turner out-lasted second-seeded seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig of Germany 21-14, 13-21 and 19-17 win in 51 minutes. Both the Germans and Swiss were playing their second match Saturday after eliminating teams from The Netherlands and Russia, respectively.

Despite finishing fifth, Goller and Ludwig have posted the best-ever season by a German women's team as the pair has secured the No. 4 ranking on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour with one event left next week on Karon Beach in Phuket, Thailand. The previous bests for German women's teams were sixth with three-time Olympian Danja Musch a member of each tandem (Beate Buhler,1995; Maike Friedrichsen, 1997; and Susanne Lahme, 2004).

"It has been a long season," said the 23-year old Goller. "We started training in January with the competition starting in April. We are looking forward to the off-season, but we still have one more event in Phuket next week. We started the season with a medal in Brazil and we would like to reach the podium in the final event in Phuket."

With pre-season training on three continents leading to competition for domestic, confederation and international events, Goller and Ludwig have played in 19 events. With three SWATCH FIVB World Tour bronze medals to their credit, Goller and Ludwig won a pair of European tour events this season to finish as the No. 1-ranked team on the continent.