PARIS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Swiss women's duo of Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner defeated China's Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi 29-27, 21-17 in the women's beach volleyball round of 16 here on Sunday.
The Chinese pair put up a valiant effort in the first set. Trailing by seven points, they rallied to tie the game at 12-12. The Swiss team once had the set point, but China held firmly, pushing the set to 27-27 before narrowly losing at 29-27.
In the second set, the Swiss side established an early lead, and although China closed the gap to one point, they couldn't clinch the win.
"This venue is perhaps the most unique among all the Olympic beach volleyball venues I've experienced. It's beautiful. Having participated in so many Olympics, I feel lucky to have experienced all these good things. But it's a bit disappointing. I wanted to make one last push, but we fell just short," said Xue, a veteran competing in her fourth Olympics.
In other women's matches on Sunday, Australia's Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Taliqua Clancy, another Swiss duo Tanja Hueberli/Nina Brunner, and the American pair Sara Hughes/Kelly Cheng all secured their places in the quarterfinals.
On the men's side, Germany's Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler quickly dispatched the Brazilian team of George Wanderley/Andre Loyola Stein in just 40 minutes with scores of 21-16 and 21-17.
Additionally, the Dutch pair Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot, Sweden's David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig, and Brazil's Evandro Goncalves/Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci also advanced to the quarterfinals.
