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RIO DE JENEIRO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings and her new partner April Ross of the United States marched into the women's beach volleyball quarter-finals of the Rio Games after beating Italy's Marta Menegatti and Laura Giombini in straight sets Friday evening.
With the 21-10 and 21-16 victory in 36 minutes, their fourth win in a row in Rio, Walsh/Ross secured their berth in the women's top eight.
Reigning world champions Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas of Brazil also clinched their berth in the women's quarter-finals by eliminating Wang Fan/Yue Yuan of China.
With their 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) win in 42 minutes over Wang and Yue, Agatha and Barbara recovered from a two-set setback Wednesday to Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez that won the Spaniards the Pool B title.
Dropping the first set without much resistance, Wang/Yue fought hard to stay within 9-8 in the second. However, the Brazilian duo ran off four straight points in front of 14,000 home fans to make it 13-8 and held on to take the straight set victory.
Agatha and Barbara's compatriots Larissa Franca and Talita Rocha also joined them in the women's top eight after sweeping Germany's Karla Borger/Britta Buthe 21-17 and 21-19.
In the men's category, world championships silver medal winners Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Vaenhorst of the Netherlands, Russia's Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov, Cuba's Diaz Gomez/Gonzalez Bayard and Italy's Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo booked their tickets in the quarter-finals.
The men's and women's top 16 elimination round will conclude on Saturday.
