The German duo cruised to a dominant 21-14, 21-15 success over Italian twins Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso in their opener, which set up a meeting with Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo.

Having already negotiated one Italian job, Bockermann and Fluggen came into the contest full of confidence but they were pushed all the way in the first set before eventually taking it 28-26.

That seemed to knock the wind out of the Italian pair's sails as they were unable to recover, with the team from Germany securing victory by clinching the second 21-19.

"We enjoy playing here,” Bockermann said.

“The key was we had fun out there, so we stayed more relaxed than normal and then we got away with some shots on the line and had a little luck.

“This time it feels better and we are playing a better side-out game here. Maybe we’re used to the sand as it is pretty deep here and we can handle that.”

Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl of Austria are standing in their way of a second consecutive final and the chance to earn gold once again as they ensured they would take on Bockermann and Fluggen in the last four.

The Austrian pair, who hadn't reached the semi-finals of an FIVB World Tour event since the Hague Open in 2013, overcame Poland’s Michal Bryl and Kacper Kujawiak in straight sets, sealing a comfortable 21-17, 22-20 triumph to progress to the next round.

The other semi-final will be between Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor against Italy’s Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula after both pairs picked up quarter-final wins.

Losiak and Kantor ousted Jacob Gibb, who has represented the United States at two Olympic Games, and Casey Patterson 21-18, 21-17, while Ranghieri and Carambula beat Brazil’s Oscar Brandao and Andre Loyola Stein 21-18, 21-17.

The tournament concludes tomorrow with the semi-finals and finals due to be held.