ESPN

BEIJING -- Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh knocked off Brazil in the semifinals on Tuesday to move within a step of becoming the first team to defend an Olympic beach volleyball title.

May-Treanor and Walsh have not lost a match for a year and have never dropped a set at the Olympics. They are favorites to beat China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the final on Thursday.

"They are perfect. Nobody is going to beat them," said Brazil's Renata Ribeiro, who lost to the U.S. duo 21-12, 21-14 with her partner Talita Antunes.

May-Treanor and Walsh were on supercharged form in the semifinals, diving for digs, blocking strongly at the net and mixing up the pace and direction of their attacks.

"We've accomplished one goal -- to get to the gold-medal match -- but we're not done yet. We want to get out there and kick butt against the Chinese on their home soil," said Walsh.

Tian and Wang saved three match points in the second set to beat their younger compatriots Zhang Xi and Xue Chen 22-24, 29-27, 15-8 in a nail-biting match that had the crowd cheering and dancing in the stands.

Zhang and Xue seemed to lose all their momentum in the third set and on the last point, Zhang leapt for a ball, pulled her back and had to be carried off the sand by medical staff.

"They were really opponents to be reckoned with. It was a tough fight. We never expected to win," said Tian.

Xue dismissed talk before the match that the younger pair might be pressured to lose to their seniors.

"There was no such thing. It's a competition and we will always try out best," she said.