Opening the penultimate day of competition in the women's semi-final against Portugal, who beat them last time out in Nantes, Germany sauntered to a 3-1 win.

Despite Sabine Winter losing the opening match to Yu Fu 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 5-11, Germany roared back with three straight victories. 

Nina Mittelham defeated Jieni Shao 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7 and Chantal Mantz overcame Ines Matos 11-7, 11-5, 16-14, before Mittelham did what Winter could not - beat Fu, running out a 9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-6 winner.

"Last time, at the European Championships, we lost against Portugal so we expected a very challenging match for us," Mittelham said. 

"We came now with a young team, quite different compared to the previous one, without our top stars Petrissa Solja and Ying Han.

"We do not have much experience playing at this level, so we are so happy that we managed to win this match."

Germany also succeeded in the men's competition, as they look to secure their 10th title.

This was a more serene affair, the Germans running out 3-0 victors against Denmark, as Benedikt Duda beat overcame Jonathan Groth 11-8, 11-4, 11-9, Patrick Franzika got the better of Anders Lind 11-7, 13-11, 11-5, and Dang Qiu beat Tobias Rasmussen 11-2, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10.

"My match against Lind wasn’t as easy as it seems to be," said Franzika. 

"In the second game, Lind was leading 6-3 and 9-7 but I managed to win the second set 13-11. 

"I think that the second game was a crucial one. 

"After I won this I knew that I had to keep fighting and I saw that he became a little negative."

The German women will play three-time defending champions Romania, who swept past France 3-0, while the men face Russia, the country reaching the final of the competition for the first time since 1968, when it was known as the Soviet Union, after upsetting favourites Sweden 3-0.

The women's and men's team finals will be played tomorrow, with Germany gunning for a rare double gold.