The teams leading three of the four semifinal matches have comfortable margins, but the battle between the two United States Venice Cup teams is very much up for grabs. USAII, captained by Sue Sachs, raced away to a fast 40-IMP lead over the first 32 boards, but USA I, captained by Sue Picus, played catchup over the last 16 boards of the day to close within 4 IMPs, 127-123.

In the other Venice Cup match, China leads by 73, 175-102 - a huge margin with only 32 boards remaining. United States I in the Bermuda Bowl, captained by Hugh Ross, is almost as bad off. They trail their compatriots, the United States II team captained by Walt Walvick, by 59 IMPs, 172-113. The Norway-France slugfest is somewhat closer - France leads, 162-122.

In the U.S. Venice Cup encounter, the Sachs team stagnated after the first 32 boards, losing 1 IMP in the third segment. It was all Picus in the fourth segment - USA I had a 54-17 edge. China, which solidly trounced a strong Great Britain team in the quarterfinals, is doing the same to France, the team that led throughout the Venice Cup round-robin. After a fierce 53-13 first segment, China opened the throttle wide again in the third segment to vault ahead by 67. The fourth segment was relatively quiet, but China added another 7 IMPs to their lead. They picked up 12 IMPs on a game swing on the very last board.

The Ross team finally gained back a little in the fourth segment, but they were outclassed for the first 48 boards. The highlight for the Walvick team was a board on which they earned 20 IMPs - making a doubled slam in one room and setting a vulnerable contract 800 in the other. Norway showed in the third segment that they can't be taken for granted. After being walloped, 92-34, over the first 32 boards, they came up with a 65-IMP effort on Boards 33-48. However, France took command again in the fourth segment.

Polish team leads in Transnational

The Polish team captained by Jassem moved into first place after seven matches in the Transnational Open Teams. A Finnish team captained by Nieminen was second, 7 Victory Points behind the leaders. Another 9 VPs back was a Denmark-Germany team captained by Jens Auken. Today will be a busy day for the competitors - five matches. The event drew an excellent turnout - 74 teams. The squad drawing the most attention is the one captained by Omar Sharif.