In the World Cup semifinals: "If someone had told us that, we wouldn't have believed it"

After their new coup, Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann briefly fought back tears.

They were a little overwhelmed by their surprising entry into the semi-finals of the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rome.

After all, the newly formed duo from Hamburg defeated the Olympic silver medalists Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho del Sola from Australia 2:1 (21:23, 21:18, 16:14) in the round of the last eight on Friday and is now playing on weekend for a medal.

"It's unbelievable," said 30-year-old Cinja Tillmann.

"It's super cool and a long tournament for us.

But we like to keep playing.” DVV sports director Niclas Hildebrand was enthusiastic about the current German flagship couple.

"Both of them made it sensational and took their chances," he said.

“That was outstanding.

And now we look forward to what is to come.”

Cinja Tillmann and the only 21-year-old Svenja Müller showed in the quarter-finals, as in the previous games, how strong they are mentally.

The Australian opponents kept putting her under pressure with hard serves.

"They weren't without it," said Svenja Müller.

However, the Germans were only slightly impressed and also overcame phases of weakness in the first two rounds.

In the tie-break, when the score was 14:11, everything seemed to have gone in favor of Müller and Tillmann.

"Then I started to think a bit," said Tillmann.

The favorites from Down Under came up to 14:14.

But Müller and Tillmann countered.

"We wouldn't have believed it"

"They put incredible pressure on you.

That's why I'm glad that we ended it quickly after 14:14, otherwise it could have gone the other way," said Tillmann.

"If someone had told us that beforehand, we wouldn't have believed it," she said about reaching the semi-finals.

"We just think from point to point, and that helps us."

Tillmann and Müller have only been playing together for a year and a half.

This year is the first full season together - all the more amazing their results already.

In May they won an Elite 16 tournament in Ostrava for the first time, the highest category in the new Beach Pro Tour, and played their way up to the top of the world.

The duo is currently the only bright spot in German beach volleyball.

A total of five German couples started at the World Cup.

Hamburg's Sandra Ittlinger/Isabel Schneider and German champions Chantal Laboureur/Sarah Schulz from Stuttgart failed in the round of 32.

The only men's team, Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler from Hamburg, was also eliminated early in the first knockout round.

The Stuttgart women Karla Borger and Julia Sude made it to the round of 16 before they were eliminated.