Each of the three main events now is down to four competitors – the semi-final stages – as the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and Seniors Bowl move steadily toward conclusion.

There was not much drama as the quarter-finals wrapped up on Monday. In the Venice Cup there were only two teams playing in the sixth and final set, as Canada, England and USA2 withdrew trailing by a cumulative 344.8 IMPs.

With 16 deals to play, China trailed the Dutch women by only 10 IMPs, but the final set went to the Netherlands 47-27 to end China’s run in the Venice Cup.

No one withdrew in the other two events, but going into the final set of the Bermuda Bowl, the four matches were effectively over.

With two sets to play on Monday, Egypt still had a chance against Sweden, but the Swedes drubbed their opponents 53-6 in the penultimate stanza. That was it for Egypt.

USA2 in the Seniors Bowl was only 13 IMPs behind the Netherlands with 16 boards to play, but they could not generate much action in a low-scoring set (18-13 for the Dutch) and lost by 18 IMPs.

These are the matchups for the semi-final rounds: Bermuda Bowl, USA1-USA2 and Italy-Sweden; Venice Cup, Germany- Netherlands and France-USA1; Seniors Bowl, Denmark- Indonesia and USA1-Netherlands.

Play in the Transnational Open Teams got underway Monday night. See the Wednesday Daily Bulletin for results and team rosters.