BARCELONA, Spain — Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs of the United States won the Barcelona Open beach volleyball tournament today.

The American duo needed 40 minutes to beat Brazilian pair Talita Antunes and Renata Ribeiro 21-18, 21-14 for their fifth straight elimination game win after opening with a first-round loss. The sixth-ranked Branagh and Youngs are only the second team to have won the 32-team tournament after opening with a defeat.

"Right now I am feeling great. This is a great victory for us, especially since these points are very important for qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," said Youngs, a bronze medalist at the Athens Games four years ago.

"The difference today was our service game along with keeping the pressure on the Brazilians through the match. Our goal was to win one point at a time and never let up."

Brazilian pair Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca beat Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou of Greece 21-14, 21-14 for bronze.

In Sunday's men's final, Julius Brink and Christopher Dieckmann of Germany face Russian pair Dmitri Barsouk and Igor Kolodinsky.