Rio Olympic champion Laura Ludwig and her new partner Louisa Lippmann are reaching for the medals at the Beach Volleyball European Championships in Vienna. The duo from Hamburg and Schwerin won the quarter-finals against the Dutch Emi van Driel and Brecht Piersma 2-0 (21:15, 21:15).

"It's incredibly important for us to see that we're on the right track," said 37-year-old Laura Ludwig. "It's incredibly fun to be on the field with Laura and to work in a team. We work extremely hard and make a little progress every day," said the 28-year-old Lippmann.

In the semi-finals, the German duo will face the Swiss Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner, who won silver at the 2022 European Championships in Munich. The final will also be played on Saturday on the Danube Island.

"We worked our way in step by step"

"This is our seventh international tournament. We've worked our way in step by step," said Ludwig, who is playing her first season with Lippmann, after the clear win over the Dutch women. Ludwig/Lippmann had surprisingly prevailed in two sets with 21:19 and 21:18 against Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann (Düsseldorf/Münster) in a German round of 16. Müller/Cillmann, who won bronze at the World Championships in Rome last year, finished the continental tournament in ninth place.

In the evening (6.30 p.m.) the round of 16 between Hamburg's Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler is still on the schedule. The only German male duo meets either the Spaniards Adrián Gavira/Pablo Herrera or the Poles Bartosz Losiak/Maciej Rudol.