Kristiansand, Norway, August 14, 2010 - With their fifth-straight international Beach Volleyball gold medal finish here Saturday to capture the women's title at the US$380,000 Otera Open, Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca set a SWATCH FIVB World Tour record while clinching a tie for the circuit championship.

The top-seeded Brazilians posted a 21-19 and 22-20 win in 43 minutes over third-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang of China to share the $30,000 first-place prize as Juliana and Larissa have now compiled seven gold medals in 2010 to increase their career total together to 36 to break a deadlock with American Olympic and world champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

Juliana and Larissa extended their personal winning streak to 35-straight match victories with two wins Saturday, including a 21-15 and 24-22 triumph over eighth-seeded compatriots Carolina and Maria Clara Salgado in a 47-minute semi-final match on the City Centre courts where the southern coastal resort city is hosting a SWATCH FIVB World Tour event for the fourth-straight year.

With a team's best 11 finishes on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour counting in the rankings, Juliana and Larissa have compiled 6,660 points for 10 appearances this season. Only compatriots Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes have a chance to match Juliana and Larissa's point total, but only by winning the remaining four events while their rivals do not serve another Mikasa this season on the international tour.

With their first Mikasa serve at next week's stop on the Finnish island of Aland, Juliana and Larissa will be guaranteed 60 more points to claim their fifth SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship in the past six seasons. The only interruption to the Brazilians'  tour championship string was in 2008 when Juliana suffered a right knee injury that required surgery and forced her to withdraw from the Beijing Olympic Games.

Xue and Zhang, who also lost last week to Juliana and Larissa in the Polish Grand Slam gold medal match in Stare Jablonki, split $21,000 for their second-place finish as the Chinese pair has now dropped 14 of 19 SWATCH FIVB World Tour matches to the Brazilian record-setters. Xue and Zhang were the last team to defeat Juliana and Larissa with a 12-21, 21-14 and 15-13 semi-final victory in 51 minutes at June's Grand Slam stop in Moscow.

Since Moscow, Juliana and Larissa have been perfect on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour by netting gold medals at stops in Norway (Stavanger), Switzerland (Gstaad), Austria (Klagenfurt) and last week in Stare Jablonki where the Brazilians defeated the Chinese 14-21, 25-23 and 16-14 in the 55-minute Polish finale.

The Otera Open gold medal was the second for Juliana and Larissa as the Brazilians defeated Xue and Zhang 21-17 and 21-16 in the 2007 Kristiansand finale in 38 minutes. After missing the 2008 event, Juliana and Larissa returned to Kristiansand in 2009 to win the Otera Open bronze medal. Juliana and Larissa also defeated Xue and Zhang for a 2006 SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Xue and Zhang, who are now 1-5 against Brazilian pairs in SWATCH FIVB World Tour finales, advanced to Saturday's finale with a 19-21, 24-22 and 15-7 win in 67 minutes over fifth-seeded Jen Kessy and April Ross of the United States. The Americans also lost to Juliana and Larissa Friday 21-19 and 21-17 in 43 minutes.

In the bronze medal match, Kessy and Ross extended a medal drought on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour by losing 13-21, 2-19 and 15-8 win in 54 minutes to the Salgado sisters. While the Brazilians split $15,000 for third-place, Kessy and Ross shared $11,200 in being denied an international podium spot for the sixth-straight event. After earning medals in four of the first five international events this season with two titles, Kessy and Ross have now placed ninth, ninth, fifth, fifth, 25th and fourth in their last six FIVB events together.