Mariehamn, Finland, August 21, 2010 - For the seventh-time this season, four countries will be represented in a men's SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final as pairs from Brazil, China, Spain and the United States posted quarter-final wins here Saturday at the US$380,000 PAF Open.

Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States will play in Sunday's first semi-final against fifth-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain while fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China challenge third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil. In Dalhausser and Rogers previous two semi-final appearances in Poland (Stare Jablonki) and Norway (Kristiansand), the Americans had defeated Marcio Araujo and Ricardo to advance to the finals.

While the Spaniards and Brazilians will be seeking their first SWATCH gold medals this season, Dalhausser and Rogers have eight titles to their credit and the Chinese two. In the head-to-head meetings for the semi-final matches, Dalhausser and Rogers have won seven of nine matches from Gavira and Herrera with Wu and Xu defeating Marcio Araujo and Ricardo in their only meeting at a June stop in the Czech Republic.

Dalhausser and Rogers netted the first "final four" berth Saturday by defeating Wu and Xu 21-9 and 21-15 in 38 minutes followed by Marcio Araujo and Ricardo's 23-21 and 23-21 victory in 51 minutes over the 18th-seeded Ces brothers (Andy and Kevin) of France. Both the Americans and Brazilians are undefeated in the PAF Open competition with 4-0 mark.

The win by Dalhausser and Rogers over Wu and Xu avenged a setback to the Chinese at mid-June's Russian Grand Slam in Moscow. With Xue and Zhang winning the women's crown the day before in Moscow, Wu and Xu upset Dalhausser and Rogers in the title match the next day for China's first-ever men's gold medal on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Playing in the elimination bracket quarter-finals, Wu and Xu rebounded with a 21-16, 18-21 and 15-7 win in 48 minutes over sixth-seeded Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia. It was the Chinese's third-straight win over Plavins and Smedins, including a gold medal victory over the Latvians last month at the French Open in Marseille.

In the last match Saturday, Gavira and Herrera eliminated the Ces brothers with a 21-19 and 21-19 quarter-final win in 45 minutes. Earlier in the day, the Spaniards ousted two Brazilian teams by defeating 16th-seeded Rhooney Ferramenta/Pedro Salgado (17-21, 21-19, 15-11, 55 minutes) and eighth-seeded Benjamin Insfran/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (21-18, 14-21, 15-9, 56).

With Brazilian (Brasilia, Shanghai and Kristiansand) and United States (Moscow and Klagenfurt) pairs advancing at least two teams to the "final fours" at five events this season, four different countries have been represented in the semi-finals at SWATCH FIVB World Tour stops in Italy (Rome), Poland (Myslowice), the Czech Republic (Prague), Norway (Stavanger), Switzerland (Gstaad) and France (Marseille).