TIANJIN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Olympic bronze medalist and defending champion Xue Chen and her new partner Ma Yuanyuan swept Xia Xinyi and Wen Shuhui 2-0 here Tuesday afternoon to set up a final clash with Wang Fan/Yue Yuan at the 13th Chinese National Games women's beach volleyball tournament.
Xue, who had captured the gold medal of the event four years ago with Zhang Xi, reaped the 21-10, 21-19 victory with Ma in the semifinals where Wang/Yue beat Chen Chunxia/Wei Zhaochen 21-19, 22-20.
"We started to play together about two weeks ago, we never expected to go this far," said the 28-year-old Xue. "We just tried to take one match at a time and it feels good to be in the final again."
Xue was one step away from repeating her title winning feat at the most important sports event in China.
"We are confident, but we got no pressure. We will see what happens tomorrow," Xue added.
In the men's semifinals, Gao Peng/Li Yang beat Halikejiang/Bao Jian 2-0 while defending champions Li Zhuoxin/Zhang Lixin lost to Chen Cheng/Li Jian 21-16, 21-14.
