But Latvia’s defending champions Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs prevented an all-Brazilian men’s final as they won an extraordinarily close semi-final against Gustavo Albrecht Carvalhaes and Saymon Barbosa Santos.

The triumph came thanks to a final game that went far beyond the normal winning total of 15, ending up at 22-20 in favour of the Latvian team.

The Latvian pairing, who beat home favourites and reigning world champions Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy yesterday, will now meet Alison Cerutti, who won Rio 2016 gold for the home nation alongside Bruno Schmidt, and the partner with whom he is now targeting a title defence at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Alvaro Morais Filho.

This second-seeded Brazilian combination proved too strong for Germany’s sixth seeds Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler, earning a 21-12, 21-19 win in the first men’s semi-final.

Brazil will also be represented in the women’s final tomorrow following a 23-21, 23-21 win by Taiana Lima and Talita over the United States tenth seeds Brooke Sweat and 41-year-old, three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings.

In the women’s other semi-final, Germany’s Karla Borger and Julia Sude lost 22-20, 16-21, 12-15 to the unseeded Swiss pairing of Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré.

The tournament concludes tomorrow.