The Hague, Netherlands, August 25, 2010 - On a day when qualifying matches for both genders were played side-by-side, eight women's teams from seven countries earned their tickets here Wednesday to compete for the US$30,000 first-place prize in the second annual Milner Open that concludes the European portion of the schedule on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar.

With 78 total matches being played Wednesday for the third busiest day in the 24-year history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, tandems advancing to Thursday's opening Main Draw rounds from the 45-team women's Qualification Tournament were Beach Volleyball pairs from Australian, Brazil, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia and the United States.

The 12th and final double gender event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, the $380,000 Milner Open ends Sunday when the men's and women's medal matches will be played on the centre court at The Hague BeachStadion in the Scheveningen district.

Of the eight top-seeded teams in the 13th of 15 women's event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar, only two advanced to the "money" rounds led by second-seeded Maria Bratkova/Alexandra Shiryaeva of Russia and third-seeded Ashley Ivy/Lisa Rutledge of the United States.

The Netherlands had two teams advance to Thursday's Main Draw to give the host country five teams in the "money" rounds. Combining for five Dutch qualifying wins Wednesday were 12th-seeded Roos Van der Hoeven/Jantine van der Vlist and 27th-seeded Rebekka Kadijk/Merel Mooren. While Van der Hoeven and van der Vlist have been regulars on the 2010 international tour, Kadijk and Mooren are playing together in an FIVB event for the first-time since their appearance in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Posting other seed-break-throughs Wednesday to reach the Main Draw were ninth-seeded Katarzyna Urban/Joanna Wiatr of Poland, 13th-seeded Luana Madeira/Liliane Maestrini of Brazil, 17th-seeded Tamsin Barnett Hinchley/Natalie Cook of Australia and 39th-seeded Juliana Antunes/Ana Freches of Portugal.

When play starts Thursday, Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca will be the top-seeded pair in the 32-team Main Draw as the Brazilians will be seeking to repeat as the Milner Open champions after defeating compatriots Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes in the 2009 The Hague BeachStadion finale as the South American country captured all three medals.

Antonelli and Talita return as the second-seeded team this year as the Brazilians' main threat in duplicating the 2009 result will be China's Chen Xue and Xi Zhang. The bronze medal winners at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Xue and Zhang have faced Juliana and Larissa in the last three SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal matches this season with the Brazilians winning the first two meetings in Poland and Norway and the Chinese the gold medal winners last week in Finland.

Juliana and Larissa clinched their fifth SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship in the past six years last week on the Finnish Isle of Aland during the opening Main Draw rounds as the Brazilians have totaled 7,200 points for their best 11 finishes on the 2010 international Beach Volleyball circuit. Antonelli and Talita are second (5,700 points) followed by Xue/Zhang (5,700), Jen Kessy/April Ross of the United States (5,540). All four teams have won SWATCH gold medals this season with Juliana and Larissa topping the list with seven titles.

The top finish by a Dutch team at the 2009 Milner Open was posted by Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel, who placed seventh after winning four of six matches on The Hague BeachStadion courts. Currently the No. 14th-ranked team on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour, Keizer and Van Iersel will be seeking their second "final four" finish in 2010 after placing fourth last month at the French Open in Marseille.

The Netherlands other Main Draw teams will be Madelein Meppelink/Marloes Wesselink and Danielle Remmers/Sophie van Gestel. The 20-year old Meppelink is considered one of the top first-year players on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour as she and Wesselink posted a fifth together at July's Norwegian Grand Slam stop in Stavanger. Remmers, who won a FIVB junior world championship in 2008 with Van Iersel, placed ninth at the 2009 Milner Open with Michelle Stiekema.