Kristiansand, Norway, August 12, 2010 - Playing in the contender's bracket at any SWATCH FIVB World Tour event is "living dangerously" as two top-seeded pairs from Beach Volleyball power Brazil experienced here Thursday during the elimination phase of the US$380,000 Otera Open in the southern Norwegian resort city.

With four Brazilian pairs seeded among the top eight teams in the 11th of 15 women's events on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, only top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva/Larissa Franca and the eighth-seeded Salgado sisters (Carolina and Maria Clara) remain in the competition.

Thursday's 16-match women's schedule featured the third-round of winner's bracket play along with two elimination rounds that decreased the initial 32-team field to 12 tandems chasing the $30,000 first-place prize in the fourth annual Otera Open. The women's "final four" pairings will be determined after Friday's 10-match schedule with the semi-final and medal matches set for Saturday.

With the elimination rounds being played first Thursday, second-seeded and defending Otera Open champions Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil were eliminated during the opening set of matches by dropping a 21-19 and 23-21 decision to 16th-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson of the United States in 41 minutes.

Antonelli and Talita, the No. 2-ranked team on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour behind Juliana and Larissa, dropped into the contender's bracket Wednesday afternoon by losing to 15th-seeded Geeske Banck and Anja Gunther of Germany 21-19 and 22-20 in 37 minutes. The 17th-place finish for Antonelli and Talita was their lowest on the FIVB tour this season after posting a similar placement in the SWATCH opener in April at Brasilia.

In the third-round of contender's action Thursday, fourth-seeded Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima of Brazil fell to 21st-seeded Ying Huang and Yuan Yue of China 21-17, 17-21 and 25-23 in a 63-minute match where the losing team placed 13th. Two weeks ago at the Austrian Grand Slam, Vivian and Lima placed second after losing the finale to Juliana and Larissa in Klagenfurt.

Joining the Chinese in winning third-round matches in the contender’s bracket were 14th-seeded Marie-Andree Lessard/Annie Martin of Canada, 23rd-seeded Liesbeth Mouha/Liesbet Van Breedam of Belgium and 24th-seeded Rieke Brink-Abeler/Angelina Grun of Germany. While the Belgium women eliminated Fendrick and Hanson with a 21-16 and 21-16 victory in 42 minutes, Lessard and Martin posted a 33-31 and 21-16 win in 49 minutes over 12th-seeded Cristine "Saka" Santanna and Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins of Georgia.

Brink-Abeler and Grun, who won a pair of qualifying matches Tuesday to earn a Main Draw berth, ousted 17th-seeded Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti of Italy 21-19 and 21-17 in 39 minutes. With two elimination wins Thursday after losing Wednesday to the Salgado sisters, Brink-Abeler and Grun are guaranteed a ninth in the Otera Open for their best SWATCH FIVB World Tour finish together.

Thursday's play ended with winner's bracket matches where Juliana and Larissa topped the Salgado sisters 21-15 and 21-13 in 36 minutes followed by fifth-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross defeating American rivals and 13th-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner 21-19 and 21-19 in 43 minutes to set up a Brazil versus United States quarter-final match Friday.

In the lower half of the Otera Open winner's bracket, two Czech Republic pairs split matches with teams from China and Germany to set up the second quarter-final match. Third-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang of China will play Lenka Hajeckova and Hana Klapalova of the Czech Republic with the winner advancing to Saturday's second semi-finals.

Xue and Zhang, who lost last week's SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal to Juliana and Larissa in Poland, defeated sixth-seeded Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 21-14 and 21-16 in 33 minutes while Hajeckova and Klapalova posted a 21-17 and 21-9 win in 33 minutes over Banck and Gunther.

After playing together for six-plus seasons on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, New Zealand's Jason Lochhead and Kirk Pitman finally achieved opening back-to-back wins in a double-elimination tournament by accomplishing the feat for the first-time here Thursday at the US$380,000 Otera Open.

Seeded 19th in the 12th of 14 men's events on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, Lochhead and Pitman posted seed-break-through wins over pairs from Italy and Brazil to advance as one of the unbeaten teams to Friday's schedule in the fourth annual Otera Open on the City Center courts.

With Thursday's matches marking their 44th appearance in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour double-elimination Main Draw tournament since forming their partnership in 2004, Lochhead and Pitman snapped a string of 14-consecutive events where they won their opening winner's bracket match only to lose in the second-round.

"We have been playing together on this tour for a long time, so today's accomplishment is quite an achievement for us," said the 28-year old Pitman, who is playing in his 99th SWATCH FIVB World Tour while the 26-year old Lochhead has appeared in all 92 of his international Beach Volleyball events with his current partner.

After opening with a 21-19 and 21-17 win in 44 minutes over the 14th-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo and Paolo) of Italy, Lochhead and Pitman scored a 21-19 and 21-19 victory in 41 minutes over third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil, who posted two bronze medals and a fourth-place finish in their last three SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam appearances in Switzerland, Austria and Poland.

Joining the Kiwis in posting break-through wins Thursday were Emiel Boersma and Daan Spijkers as the 23rd-seeded Dutch pair posted wins over 10th-seeded Vegard Hoidalen and Jorre Kjemperud of Norway (21-17 and 21-15, 42 minutes) and seventh-seeded Andrey Maryshev and Alexey Yutvalin of Russia (21-12, 21-23, 16-14, 54).

Boersma and Spijkers, who are playing in their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour event together as the Dutchmen started play in the Otera Open Wednesday by posting two qualifying wins, will challenge second-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil in an opening winner's bracket match Friday with the victors playing either sixth-seeded Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu or Lochhead/Pitman.

Other teams with 2-0 marks Thursday were two American teams along with fifth-seeded Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado of Brazil and ninth-seeded Martin Spinnangr/Tarjei Skarlund of Norway. Spinnangr and Skarlund, who posted their best SWATCH finish with a silver medal last month in Stavanger, Norway, challenge top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers while Harley and Salgado play fifth-seeded Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena.

Sixteen other men's teams, including Marcio Araujo/Ricardo and Maryshev/Yutvalin, remain in the Otera Open with one defeat each. Friday's schedule will feature the four winner's bracket matches along with two elimination rounds where 12 teams will be ousted from the event.

The Otera Open, the 10th of 12 double gender events on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour this season, concludes this weekend with the women's finals Saturday and the men's medal matches Sunday as each gender's winning team will split the $30,000 first-place prize.