Viacheslav Krasilnikov are through to the men's final ©Getty Images

Norwegian top seeds Anders Mol and Christian Sørum were sent crashing out of the International Volleyball Federation Beach World Tour Finals at the semi-final stage in Rome.

Mol and Sørum have been the team to beat this season but came unstuck against Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovkiy of Russia.

The Norwegians won the opening set 21-18 before Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy raised their level to fight back.

They restored parity before clinching the deciding set to earn an 18-21, 21-18, 15-9 victory in 52 minutes.

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovkiy will take on German pair Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler, the partnership they defeated to win the World Championship in Hamburg in July.

Thole and Wickler edged a tight opening set against Americans Jacob Gibb and Taylor Crabb before racing through the second set for a 26-24, 21-17 triumph.

German pair Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch will bid for gold in the women's final ©Getty Images
German pair Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch will bid for gold in the women's final ©Getty Images 

There was more joy for Germany as Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch set up a women's final against Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Lisboa of Brazil.

Olympic gold medallist Ludwig and Kozuch recorded a straight sets victory against Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre.

The Swiss pair have enjoyed a change in fortunes with a more patient approach to their play in the second half of 2019, but they were no match for their German rivals in Italy, going down 22-24, 21-23.

Bednarczuk and Lisboa had a more difficult task in reaching tomorrow's final.

The fourth seeds lost the opening set against Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti Barbosa Silva of Brazil before fighting back to win 17-21, 21-19, 15-13.