Wang and Yue opened with a 21-9, 21-14 victory over Germany’s Julia Großner and Nadja Glenzke in the round of 16 before claiming a 21-12, 14-21, 15-6 win against The Netherlands’ Joy Stubbe and Jolien Sinnema in the quarter-finals.

Awaiting the Chinese duo in the last four are Germany’s Isabel Schneider and Victoria Bieneck, who followed up a 17-21, 21-16, 15-12 triumph over Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilová by beating Austria’s Katharina Schützenhöfer and Stefanie Schwaiger 21-17, 21-19.

The teams have never played each other before, but all four players have previously competed in Xiamen with Wang and Yue winning silver in 2014.

The second women’s semi-final is an all-Brazilian clash between Barbara Seixas De Freitas and Fernanda Alves and Maria Antonelli and Carolina Horta Maximo.

Both teams are newly formed this season with Antonelli winning gold in Xiamen in 2014 with former partner Juliana Felisberta Da Silva.

Seixas De Freitas and Alves defeated Russia’s Olga Motrich and Nadezda Makroguzova 21-23, 21-13, 15-7 today before overcoming the United States’ Brittany Hochevar and Emily Day 13-21, 21-16, 15-12.

Antonelli and Maximo registered wins over fellow Brazilians Josemari Alves and Liliane Maestrini, 23-25, 23-21, 15-11, and Russia’s Anastasia Barsuk and Evgenia Ukolova, 21-18, 24-22.

In the men’s competition, top-seeded Italians Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo are through to the semi-finals after beating Switzerland’s Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger 21-16, 21-16 and the US’ Ryan Doherty and James Avery Drost 21-17, 21-12.

Next up for the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists are Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann and Armin Dollinger, who defeated Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen 21-17, 10-21, 17-15 and Austria’s Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler 21-17, 21-18.

Nicolai  and Lupo have been on the Xiamen podium previously, when they took bronze in 2013, while a medal for the Germans would be their first on the FIVB World Tour.

The Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen will play Poland’s Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz in the second men’s semi-final.

Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen beat Norway’s Christian Sandlie Sørum and Mathias Berntsen 21-14, 21-17 and the US duo Sean Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb 21-16, 17-21, 15-9.

As for Rudol and Szalankiewicz, they saw off the challenges of Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, 18-21, 21-19, 15-9, and Cuba’s Diaz Gomez Nivaldo Nadir and Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez Bayard, 22-20, 13-21, 15-11.

With the Polish pair only coming together this season, the two teams have not yet played each other.

All players have competed in Xiamen previously, however, with Brouwer and Meeuwsen winning silver in 2013.

The gold and bronze medal matches are due to take place tomorrow following the semi-finals.