Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser had their title streak snapped Monday as the local pro beach volleyball stars lost in the championship match against a team from China at the $600,000 Swatch-FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.
Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu outlasted the 2008 Olympic champions, 21-17, 17-21, 17-15, to post the first title of their careers and the first gold medal for their country in the 24-year history of the international tour. China’s victory ended a streak of three straight championships for Rogers and Dalhausser. They had won in Italy and Poland on the FIVB World Tour and captured a domestic AVP title in Huntington Beach before traveling to Russia.
Rogers-Dalhausser will retain their No. 1 world ranking. They’ve played in four of the five finals (and all five semifinals) overseas and have won all three AVP events played to date. They’ll return to the domestic tour this weekend in Virginia Beach, Va.
Prior to Monday, the best result this year for the 6-6 Wu and the 6-7 Xu was ninth place in Poland and Italy. In 2008, they played Rogers-Dalhausser in the Moscow final and lost in three games.
Rogers-Dalhausser have won three times on this year’s World Tour, and their worst finish is a fourth in China.
The men’s semifinals and final of the Moscow Grand Slam were pushed back to Monday because a heavy thundershower stopped play on Sunday. The women got their semifinals and final in on Sunday and China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang defeated American’s Jen Kessy and April Ross for the title, 21-17, 21-19.
Rogers-Dalhausser, who split $29,000, defeated Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in Monday’s semis, 21-15, 21-15, while Wu-Xu, who share $43,500, knocked off Americans Casey Jennings and Brad Keenan, 21-12, 21-16.
