On second try, it's no sweat for US

On the ball against a Swiss team, Todd Rogers (left) and Phil Dalhausser improved to 1-1. (Thomas Coex/Getty Images)

BEIJING - Patrick Heuscher allowed himself to fantasize when he saw that overwhelming favorites Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser - his next opponents - had lost their opener in the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.

"There was a little hope they were struggling," the Swiss Heuscher said after the Americans, to his dismay, bounced back with a dominating performance to beat him and Sascha Heyer, 21-15, 21-10, last night. "There were two reactions possibly: That they could play like that, or that they play [poorly], like before."

Reigning world champions who lost to a Latvian team seeded 23d in the 24-team field, Dalhausser and Rogers left little doubt that the problems were temporary. The first-time Olympians showed none of the jitters they suffered in their opener, which came the morning after the lengthy opening ceremony and followed a long layoff since their last match.

"I think the Latvian match was a bit of a wakeup call," Rogers said. "I think we were really rusty."

Dalhausser and Rogers took the preceding weekend off from the domestic pro tour, then flew to China to get acclimated. Rogers left Friday night's opening ceremony after marching in the parade of nations, but Dalhausser stuck around and didn't get to bed until 2:15 a.m.

They played at 9 p.m. Saturday and lost to Latvians Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs.

"It definitely didn't help sitting there in that humidity in that sportcoat," Dalhausser said. "I felt a little springier tonight. The legs felt a lot better. It felt good to have them back."

Dalhausser denied it was nerves.

"I wasn't nervous at all," the soft-spoken and shy Dalhausser told reporters in the postmatch news conference. "I really don't get nervous playing volleyball. I get more nervous for this thing."

Despite the loss to Latvia that snapped a 21-game international winning streak, last night's victory left the Americans 1-1 in the round-robin and on track to reach the medal round. A victory against Argentines Martin Conde and Mariano Baracetti in the preliminary finale tomorrow would guarantee Rogers and Dalhausser reach the Round of 16.

A loss and they still could make it as a wild card or through the "lucky losers" bracket.

"They're still the best team in the world," Heuscher said. "They're still the team to win the gold medal."

Reigning gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor all but assured themselves of a spot in the medal round this morning by beating a pair of three-time Olympians from Cuba in straight sets.

The American duo moved to 2-0 and claimed their 103d consecutive win by defeating Dalixia Fernandez Grasset and Tamara Larrea, 21-15, 21-16. The Cubans, ninth-place finishers in both Athens and Sydney, fell to 1-1.

Americans Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs also won, coming back from a 17-15 deficit in the first set with 6 consecutive points to beat Germans Okka Rau and Stephanie Pohl, 21-17, 21-16, and improve to 2-0 in the round-robin.

Teams with two victories in the round-robin are virtually assured of a spot in the Round of 16, barring an unexpected forfeit. A team also can advance with a 1-2 record; only six of the 24 teams in the men's and women's fields are eliminated in the preliminaries.

Brazilian's Larissa and Ana Paula, playing together for the first time because of an injury to Larissa's partner on the eve of the games, improved to 2-0. After losing their first set, 21-19, to Russians Alexandra Shiryaeva and Natalia Uryadova, the Brazilians came back to win the next two, 21-12 and 15-13.

Susanne Glesnes and Kathrine Maaseide of Norway also improved to 2-0 with a victory, as did Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China, and Australians Tamsin Barnett and Natalie Cook.

On the men's side, Emanuel and Ricardo of Brazil improved to 2-0, along with Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack of Australia, and Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil of the Netherlands.