The thousands of German fans who followed the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 on Saturday left the Am Rothenbaum Stadium with mixed feelings as while they celebrated the qualification of Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann to the semifinals, they were also very emotional with the last international match of their country’s most accomplished player, Laura Ludwig.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 matches live on VBTV

The reigning European champions, Müller and Tillmann will represent Germany in the women’s semifinals, playing against Brazilians Thamela Coradelo and Victoria Lopes on Sunday, at 11:00 local time (9:00 GMT). One hour earlier, Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi and Switzerland’s Nina Brunner/Tanja Hüberli will play for the other spot in the gold medal match, which will be held at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

Müller and Tillmann earned the right to fight to make it to the top of the podium for the third time in their last four events in a very emotional quarterfinal match, which saw them eliminate the 38-year-old Ludwig and her partner Louisa Lippmann with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) win.

After the final point, Ludwig, who had earlier in the day defeated Americans Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint 2-1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-12) alongside Lippmann, was hugely celebrated by the German fans in her home sand Hamburg.

The beach volleyball legend, who will end her career next week at the German Championship, in Timmendorfer Strand, walks away as the most accomplished German player ever, having won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics and the 2017 FIVB World Championships, besides having topped the podium 12 times in an international career that lasted 20 years and took her to five Olympics, a record among the women.

Three semifinalists come from Pool B

The three other semifinalists all started the tournament in Pool B and will get to meet again in the medal rounds in Hamburg. Swiss Olympic medalists Brunner and Hüberli, who ranked first in the pool, had the smoothest path to the semifinals, downing Lithuanians Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) in the quarterfinals to progress.

Their next opponents, Menegatti and Gottardi were third in the pool phase and had to win twice on Saturday to advance. The two started the day in the Round of 12, where they downed Finland’s Taru Lathi and Niina Athiainen 2-1 (21-15, 11-21, 19-17), and needed all three sets again in the quarterfinals to overcome Dutch Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-10).

Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Playing together for just the second time, Brazilians Thamela and Victoria navigated their schedule a little bit more comfortably, getting two-set victories against Austrians Dorina and Ronja Klinger (21-17, 21-14) in the quarterfinals and Swiss Olympic medalists Joana Mäder and Anouk Vergé-Dépré (21-17, 21-12), who played their last tournament as partners, in the semifinals.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter