The Hague, Netherlands, August 29, 2010 - Olympian Talita Antunes celebrated her 28th birthday here Sunday by teaming with Maria Antonelli to win the gold medal at the US$380,000 Milner Open as the Brazilians defeated two of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour’s top tandems this weekend to claim their second international Beach Volleyball title this season.

In capturing their sixth SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal since forming their partnership at the start of the 2009 season, the second-seeded Antonelli and Talita avenged an earlier setback this week to Chen Xue and Xi Zhang to score a 21-19 and 21-18 win in 38 minutes over the third-seeded Chinese pair to share the $30,000 first-place prize.

With the women’s gold medal win, Brazil is in position to sweep the top two spots on the Milner Open podium as Benjamin Insfran and Bruno Oscar Schmidt from the South American country will be playing Americans Casey Jennings and Kevin Won in the men’s finale. Like Antonelli and Talita, Benjamin and Bruno will be seeking to avenge an earlier setback to their gold medal opponent in the Milner Open competition.

After losing 19-21, 21-18 and 15-12 to Xue and Zhang Friday afternoon in a 44-minute winner’s bracket quarter-final match, Antonelli and Talita rebounded with two wins Saturday starting with a 24-22, 18-21 and 15-6 elimination victory in 51 minutes over compatriots Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, the top-ranked team on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

"This is a very special day as I celebrate my birthday with a gold medal win,” said Talita, who dropped the bronze medal match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to Xue and Zhang when she was playing with Renata Ribeiro. “Maria’s play despite competing with a strained tendon in her right leg was very courageous. We are both very pleased with our victory as the weather conditions this week have been very difficult.”

Chen Xue and Xi Zhang, the third-ranked team on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour behind both Brazilian pairs, were seeking their third gold medal this season and seventh overall after the Chinese had defeated Juliana and Larissa last week on the Finnish Isle of Aland. The two previous weeks in Poland and Norway, Juliana and Larissa had defeated Chinese for the gold medals in Stare Jablonki and Kristiansand, respectively.

For placing second, Xue and Zhang shared the $21,000 second-place prize. With a split of two matches this week against Antonelli and Talita, the Chinese have won six of their nine matches with their Brazilian rivals. While Antonelli and Talita are now 5-5 in SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal matches, the Chinese are now six for 14 when playing for the top spot on the podium.

The Milner Open finale also marked the 16th SWATCH FIVB World Tour women’s gold medal match between the two countries with Brazil holding a 12-4 edge in the title meetings. Xue and Zhang are now 2-6 in international SWATCH finales against Brazilian teams with one of their setbacks being to Talita and Renata at the 2008 French Open in Marseille. Antonelli and Talita are 2-0 against Chinese pairs in finales, including their first-ever international gold medal win at the 2009 Shanghai stop over Jie Wang and Man Zuo.

The “non-final four” appearance for Juliana and Larissa marked only the second-time in 2010 that the Brazilians had not competed in a SWATCH FIVB World Tour semi-final in 12 international events in 2010. Earlier this season in the Italian Grand Slam, Talita and Antonelli eliminated Juliana and Larissa in a quarter-final match in Rome.

In the bronze medal match, 13th-seeded Angie Akers and Tyra Turner of the United States withstood a late rally by ninth-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel by defeating the Dutch pair 21-17, 23-21 and 15-12 in 58 minutes. The win netted Akers and Turner their fourth SWATCH FIVB World Tour podium placement together after losing an international finale earlier this season to Juliana and Larissa in Korea.

Akers and Turner’s victory also avenged a bronze setback to Keizer and Van Iersel at the 2009 Japan Open in Osaka while ending a six-event medal drought for the American women on the FIVB tour. For their efforts Sunday, Akers and Turner shared $15,000 for third-place with Keizer and Van Iersel splitting $11,200.

With the Milner Open being the last of 14 men’s events on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour, the women’s 15-stop circuit will conclude at the end of October and the first of November with stops in China (Sanya, October 26-31) and Thailand (Phuket, November 2-7). The international Beach Volleyball tour will have visited 17 sites in 14 countries over an eight-month period in 2010 with $6.83-million in prize money.