LONDON, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Xue Chen and Zhang Xi marched into the semi-finals of the Olympics women's beach volleyball tournament after beating an Austrian pair 21-18, 21-11 on Sunday.

The bronze medallists of Beijing Olympics played near-flawless game to stun Austrian sisters Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger, who finished fifth in 2008, in 41 minutes as the enthusiastic crowd in a full-packed Horse Guard Parade venue cheered in awe.

"We played great tonight and the Schwaigers didn't play their best," said China's right-hand defender Xue, the younger of the duo.

"The game was much harder than what it looked like. We know each other well. To confine our attacks with powerful service, that's the way they play with us all the time. We know that and so we paid more attention to receiving, and it worked," said Zhang.

The first set was close with the Schwaigers scoring first and leading at 5-2 before the Chinese rallied to tie 5-5 and took the lead for good at 9-8.

The Chinese then built a four-point lead at 18-14 only to see the Austrians close in 19-18. However, the Schwaigers wasted their chance to pull back as they committed two out-of-court spikes to surrender the set 18-21.

The Chinese dominated in the second set as they soon jumped to 14-7 before pulling away for the victory.

"The Chinese team are really good and they gave us no chance in the second set. we learned a lot of experience from the games, though I'm a little bit sad," said Doris Schwaiger.

Xue and Zhang will face the defending champions American Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh, who beat the Italian team Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti.

"We have played with them seven times, and we have won four times. It's shame we lost to them at the Beijing Games. So, it's very exciting to meet them here. We have walked a long way to reach the semifinals. We have nothing to fear," said Xue.

Losing the opener of the tournament, Xue and Zhang came back strongly to book a top 16 berth with a 2-1 win-loss record during the group stage.

They easy past Russia's Evgenia Ukolova/Ekaterina Khomyakova 21-12, 21-11 in quarterfinals. Enditem

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