The pairing were facing the heavily fancied German duo Markus Böckermann and Lars Flüggen in the beach volleyball competition, their opponents fresh from winning the previous World Tour Open in Qatar.

Böckermann and Flüggen looked on track for another final appearance, winning a closely fought opening set 21-18, but their rivals refused to buckle and levelled the contest by taking the second 23-21.

Having fought their way back into the contest, the 19-year-old Russians held their nerve to eventually claim the decider 15-13 to advance to the last four for the first time at the World Tour Open.

“I don’t know what to say,” Stoyanovskiy said.

“It was very tough out there against them and we had to focus hard after we lost the first set, but we managed it well.

“It is the first time we have reached a semi-final, so of course we are proud of the result.”

To reach a maiden final, the pairing will now need to defeat Poland’s Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz, after they earned a straight sets 21-18, 21-18 win over their compatriots Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol.

The possibility of an all-Polish gold medal match remains as Piotr Losiak and Bartosz Kantor brushed aside the challenge of Canada’s Samuel Pedlow and Grant O’Gorman 21-14, 21-19.

Qatar’s Jefferson Santos and Cherif Younousse will take on the Polish team, who have won world titles at under 19, 21 and 23 level, sealing a straight sets 21-15, 21-19 win over Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen.

Action is due continue tomorrow at the male only tournament, which has proved controversial due to a ban on women watching matches in the Islamic country.

The FIVB have given repeated assurances that women would be able to watch the event on Kish, which is situated in the Persian Gulf.

The world governing body revealed yesterday that they were investigating a situation in which a group of women arrived together and were subsequently asked to leave by the security personnel, including looking into claims their arrival was a politically motivated stunt.