Germany’s Laura Ludwig (pictured) and Kira Walkenhorst beat defending champions Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca in the final of the Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland ©FIVB

Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst claimed a fourth International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) World Tour title of the season after beating defending champions Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca in the final of the Olsztyn Grand Slam in Poland.

Having earlier defeated Brazil’s Eduarda Lisboa and Elize Maia 21-16, 21-18 in the semi-finals, the third-seeded duo went on to down second seeds Antunes and Franca 21-18, 15-21, 15-10.

The beaten finalists booked their place in the gold medal match with a 21-16, 21-19 win over Slovakia’s Natalia Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova, who recovered to beat Lisboa and Maia 22-20, 21-14 in the bronze medal match.

The final came a week after Ludwig and Walkenhorst overcame Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas to top the podium at the FIVB Major Series event in Hamburg.

The Germans are now undefeated in four gold medal matches this campaign having also triumphed at the European Championships in Swiss city Biel-Bienne and the Antalya Open in Turkey.

The Olsztyn Grand Slam final was the fourth FIVB World Tour meeting between Ludwig and Walkenhorst and Antunes and Franca with the former improving their record to 3-1.

Brazil's Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes (right) and Saymon Barbosa booked their place in the men's semi-finals
Brazil's Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes (right) and Saymon Barbosa booked their place in the men's semi-finals ©FIVB

In the men’s draw, defending champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil advanced to their 17th FIVB World Tour semi-final in 27 international starts together thanks to a 21-19, 21-16 victory over fifth-seeded Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk of Canada.

The FIVB world champions had earlier defeated top-seeded Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland 30-28, 21-17 and now go on to face the United State’s Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson in the last four. 

Gibb and Patterson started play today with a 21-17, 21-19 win over Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza before beating American compatriots Tri Bourne and John Hyden 21-19, 21-15.

The semi-final will be a rematch of last year’s Olsztyn Grand Slam final when Cerutti and Oscar Schmidt posted a 21-10, 21-15 win over Gibb and Patterson.

Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa and Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes will meet Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins in the other semi-final after both pairs successfully came through three matches today.

Saymon and Guto beat Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov and Yaroslav Koshkarev 21-17, 21-19 in the first elimination round before going on to overcome Canada’s Grant O'Gorman and Sam Pedlow 21-12, 21-16 and seventh-seeded Brazilian compatriots Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Solberg 22-20, 21-19.

Sixth seeds Samoilovs and Smedins followed up a 21-19, 21-16 win over Brazil’s Andre Loyola and Ricardo Santos by beating fourth-seeds Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain 19-21, 21-17, 15-13 and Brazil's Vitor Felipe and Alvaro Filho 21-23, 21-16, 15-12.