Xue Chen became the youngest player ever to capture an international beach volleyball event when she teamed up with Zhang Xi to prevail in an all-Chinese women's final at the US$400,000 World Tour China Jinshan Open in suburban Jinshan District yesterday.

With a 23-21, 21-14 win in 38 minutes over second-seeded Wang Jie and Tian Jia, Xue and Zhang took home US$32,000.

The match also marked the first all-Chinese affair in any tournament finale since the tour was launched 14 years ago.

"It is an honor to be the youngest," said Xue Chen, who turned 17 on February 18. "However, it is particularly special today. We will resume play on Wednesday in the Athens stop of the tour and, again, have to qualify for the main draw."

Prior to Xue's golden performance this week, the mark for the youngest player to win an international beach volleyball tournament was still with China after Ji Linjun captured a World Tour event in Thailand on February 27, 2005, as an 18-year-old (nine months, 24 days) with You Whenhui.

Xue and 21-year-old Zhang, who was named the most outstanding player at the event, won eight of their nine matches with their only setback being a 15-21, 18-21 loss to top-seeds Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil on Friday. However, the Chinese avenged the defeat with a 21-17, 19-21, 15-11 semifinal victory on Saturday.

"They outplayed us today," said 25-year-old Olympian Tian after the final. "I am happy for China's success this week, but we played poorly today."

Tian and Wang, who captured a bronze medal in the World Tour opener two weeks ago in Modena, Italy, split US$22,000 and missed an opportunity to join Juliana and Larissa as the points leader on the international circuit. The Braziliansbeat another Chinese team for the bronze.

On Saturday, second-seeded Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil scored a 21-19, 21-18 win over fellow Brazilians Pedro Cunha and Franco Neto for the men's title.

(Shanghai Daily May 29, 2006)