Having overcome Spain’s Liliana Fernández and Elsa Baquerizo 21-11, 21-11 earlier in the day, the fourth seeds defeated the 21st-seeded qualifiers 21-15, 20-22, 15-12.

"We wanted to win in two sets, but the Brazilians fought hard and we gave them the second set," said Bansley.

Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca, who beat Bansley and Pavan in the 2015 final, suffered a shock 21-15, 20-22, 13-15 loss at the hands of 13^th seeds Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy in the last-16.

Menegatti and Orsi Toth went on to lose 21-23, 12-21 against 10th-seeded Karla Borger and Britta Buthe, who are one of three German pairings joining Bansley and Pavan in the semi-finals.

Second-seeded Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst await Bansley and Pavan in the last four after they advanced to their three-straight FIVB World Tour semi-final with 21-10, 21-19 win over Switzerland's Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli.

Nineteenth-seeded qualifiers Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude - 21-12, 21-14 winners against Brazil’s Maria Antonelli and Liliane Maestrini - face Borger and Buthe in an all-German encounter.

Germany have three teams in either a men’s or women’s semi-finals for the first-time since the start of international competition in 1987.

In the men's draw, top seeds Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt secured top spot in Pool A after beating Italy's Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri 21-19, 21-9.

First place ensured a bye into the second elimination round, where they will face defending champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands tomorrow.

Brouwer and Meeuwsen suffered defeat in their last Pool B match, losing 19-21, 25-27 against Austria's Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst.

It meant they finished third and had to come through a first elimination round encounter with Brazil's Vitor Felipe and Alvaro Filho to reach the last-16.

The Dutch pair duly delivered, coming from behind to triumph 22-24, 21-10, 15-10.