Mariehamn, Finland, August 22, 2010 - Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers continue to validate their credentials as the No. 1 Beach Volleyball team on the planet as the American Olympic champions posted a pair of wins here Sunday to capture the US$380,000 PAF Open men's title for their ninth SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal in 2010.

After posting a 21-15 and 21-16 semi-final win in 39 minutes over fifth-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain, the top-seeded Dalhausser and Rogers finished play Sunday afternoon at the third annual PAF Open with a 24-22, 10-21, 15-13 gold medal victory in 59 minutes over third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil.

With six-straight wins this week to share the $30,000 first-place prize, Dalhausser and Rogers extended their SWATCH FIVB World Tour victory string to 23-straight matches. The only blemish on the American international match log was a pool forfeit to a Portuguese team at the Austrian Grand Slam at the end of July. Dalhausser and Rogers have now won 30 of their last 31 FIVB matches, including the pool forfeit.

In playing in 12 of the 13 men's SWATCH FIVB World Tour events on the 2010 calendar to date, Dalhausser and Rogers are the only team to play in the "final four"  for each of their appearances this season as the Americans also posted a second, third and fourth in their non-winning events. For 2010, Dalhausser and Rogers have won 75 of 86 matches with $387,700 in winnings.

The nine gold medals in a season is a new SWATCH FIVB World Tour record as Dalhausser and Rogers tied the previous record of eight titles in a year set by the Brazilian women's pair of Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca in 2008 by winning the men's Norwegian Open in Kristiansand last Sunday. The American's winning's mark also set a record breaking the previous men's best of $355,000 in 2006 by Emanuel Rego and Ricardo.

Since July 2009, Dalhausser and Rogers have not missed playing in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour "final four" in 14 events as the Americans closed their season last year by winning international Grand Slam titles in France and Austria. To end this season, Dalhausser and Rogers regrouped from a bronze medal finish at the first of July in Norway to capture FIVB titles in Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Norway and this week on the Finnish Isle of Aland to clinch the circuit championship.

In winning their 17th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match in 21 finales since forming their partnership on a regular basis in 2006, Dalhausser and Rogers are now 8-3 against Brazilian pairs in international title matches. One of the Brazilian gold medal wins was at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games when Dalhausser and Rogers defeated Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes in the final.

Marcio Araujo and Ricardo, who are now 0-4 against Dalhausser and Rogers this season, split $21,000 for playing in their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match together. The Brazilians had played Dalhausser and Rogers the past two weeks in semi-final matches in Poland and Norway with the Americans winning in three sets each time.

To reach Sunday's PAF Open finale, Marcio Araujo and Ricardo defeated fourth-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China 21-19 and 21-16 in a 45-minute semi-final match. Wu and Xu joined Dalhausser/Rogers and Brazilians Harley Marques/Pedro Salgado as the only men's teams to win SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals in 2010. The Chinese won crowns in Russia and France with Harley and Salgado topping a podium in China.

In the bronze medal match, Wu and Xu validated a Friday afternoon win over Gavira and Herrera in the third-round of the winner's bracket to out-score the Spaniards 22-24, 27-25 and 15-12 in 71 minutes. The Chinese split $15,000 for third-place with Gavira and Herrera sharing $11,200 for fourth-place.

The women's gold medal was decided Saturday with China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhang upsetting favored Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 18-21, 21-12 and 15-12 in the 65-minute title match. The final stop on the men's 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar is next week in The Netherlands at The Hague. The women's 15-stop schedule concludes in China (Sanya, October 26-31) and Thailand (Phuket, November 2-7).