Golden girls too hot for Melissa and Sarah in the semifinal

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Laura and Kira are aiming to win a second World Tour Finals title in a row

Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst displayed their best beach volleyball yet to remain on course for a second successive World Tour Finals crown after they cruised past Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes.

On a memorable night under the Red Bull Beach Arena floodlights the German Olympic and World Champions were simply too good for their in-form opponents, who were playing in their seventh semifinal of the season.

But Laura and Kira had all the answers to seal a magnificent victory and with it a place in Saturday’s final.

“We knew we had to put them under pressure and the crowd really helped,” Laura said afterwards. “It was important because they have been playing really well and we knew we needed to prevent them from getting in a rhythm and we did that.”

The heroes from Hamburg targeted the less experienced Humana-Paredes and that tactic helped the pair record the 21-15, 21-14 win in style.

“Mel is an amazing player, she is young and hasn’t been on the World Tour for as long as we have and we thought it might be hard to focus in a semifinal in front of a large home crowd so we tried to use that to our advantage,” said Ludwig.

“I’m not sure it’s the toughest game we’ve faced this year but the crowd really did help. I’ve said it before, we want to give something back to Hamburg and now we’re just one win away from doing that.”

Can Laura and Kira win another World Tour Finals title? Find out when they play in the gold medal match at 2pm on Saturday – a match you can see live on BeachStream.

There wasn't an empty seat in the house as Kira and Laura cruised to victory