News Beach volleyball 25/08/2013 From country quota to the final in just one year for Walkenhorst Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2013 - Germany’s KiraWalkenhorst moved up from losing in country quota to the final of the FIVBMoscow Grand Slam in just one year. Walkenhorst and her new partner since this season, Laura Ludwig, reached thefinal by defeating Italy’s new team Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth 2-0(21-16, 21-10) on Sunday morning. At 18.30 the Germans will play Brazil’s Maria Clara and Carolina Salgado forthe gold. Ludwig is going to add another Russian medal to the bronze she won with SaraGoller in Moscow in 2009, but for Walkenhorst this will be her first medalever, after they missed out on one in Gstaad (4th) this year. “I am so happy. Last year I played my first Grand Slam in Moscow and I playedonly one country quota match and now I am in the final. It’s going so fast andI am so happy we won this game.” “I was so nervous. Now we are sure of our first medal and we can just play andhave fun and try to get the gold medal. We will see.” Ludwig and Walkenhorst were by far the better team in the semifinal againstItaly. Especially in the second set young Menegatti and Orsi Toth, only playingtheir second event together, could not follow. Germany created a huge gap inthe second set, moving up from 7-3 to 13-3 and again from 16-5 to 19-5. “We won the first set and after that we played more freely, had more confidenceand that’s why we won. We served better and had good block-defence”,Walkenhorst said. Walkenhorst and Ludwig have played the Salgado-sisters once before, in Berlin.“We won 2-1. It was a really close game. But this is a new tournament and a newgame.” Remarkable recovery for Brazil Maria Clara and Carolina made a remarkable recovery this week in Moscow. Fromalmost out in pool play they marched all the way up to the final. On Friday they were already booking a ticket home, because they lost two oftheir pool matches and thought they were out. “We did not know how to make the counts in the pool”, Carolina said. “So wethought we were out, no chance. We made it by only one point after all and thenwe said if we are so lucky, we need to make it work, give something back.” “So this is a special moment for us”, Maria Clara added. In the semifinal theyoverpowered Spain's Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan 2-0(21-18, 21-14) with aggressive serving and attacks, targeting Baquerizo most ofthe time. The Spanish defence player had trouble with her side-out. “We watched many videos yesterday and I think our tactic worked”, Carolinasaid. The Salgados already won two silvers and two bronzes this year coming backafter Carolina’s gave birth to a baby boy. “So we are looking for a gold medalnow.”FIVBMoscow Grand Slam Tournament PageFIVBMoscow Grand Slam Men’s Main DrawFIVBMoscow Grand Slam Women’s Main DrawFIVB Moscow Grand Slam TwitterAccount Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News