The Tokyo 2020 champions continued their search for a ninth World Cup title as they beat 2014 silver medallists Australia 1-0 at the Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa.

Frédérique Matla broke the deadlock after 41 minutes from a penalty corner following a tense back-and-forth first-half in the venue which hosted hockey during the 1992 Olympic Games.

The pressure was mounting on Australia as they had faced a barrage of 10 penalty corners in the space of five minutes before Matla finally converted.

Matla's decisive flick was her first goal in three games.

The match was predicted to be an offensive semi-final with both teams boasting plenty of attacking talent.

The Dutch tally may have been higher but Australian goalkeeper Jocelyn Bartram was in fine form to keep her side in the game.

"We had a lot of corners and she played a great match," Marloes Keetels, playing in her last tournament for Oranje, said of Bartam's performance.

"We could have played some attacks a bit smarter to create more one-on-ones with the goalkeeper.

"But she did something really well today as we couldn’t create that second goal."

The result marked The Netherlands' 35th triumph against Australia as they have now won 64.81 per cent of the pair's 54 meetings.

Argentina then met Germany in Terrassa and ensured tomorrow's final would be a rematch of the 2010 decider which the Lionesses won 3-1 before their home crowd in Rosario to lift their second World Cup title.

Hanna Granitzki got Germany off to the perfect start as she converted a penalty corner inside the first minute in a stadium they had won the Olympic silver medals 30 years ago. 

The German lead did not last long as Agustina Gorzelany found the net moments before the end of the first quarter.

Agustina Albertarrio slotted home a well-worked field goal to give Argentina the lead with 27 minutes on the clock only for her strike to be cancelled out 15 minutes later when Charlotte Stapenhorst fired home.

The two sides were inseparable for the remainder of normal time sending the game to a shootout.

Argentina prevailed 4-2 as Linnea Weidemann and Nike Lorenz failed to convert for Germany.

Prior to the 2010 clash, Argentina and The Netherlands have met twice before in the World Cup final.

The Dutch won the inaugural tournament in 1974 in Mandelieu in France with 1-0 victory in the final, while Argentina were victorious in 2002 after a 4-3 shootout win in Australian city Perth.