Claes/Hughes take on Hüberli/Betschart for a place in the last four

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Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart came fifth here last season.

Rising stars Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes and Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart have eyes on gold after they booked their places against each other in the Poreč Major quarterfinals.

Americans Claes, 21, and Hughes, 22, recorded their fourth straight win in Croatia with an impressive straight sets win over Brazilians Elize Maia and Taiana Lima on side court 4 on Friday morning to make it to the last eight.

Meanwhile Swiss pair Hüberli, 24, and Betschart, 21, fought back to beat Germans Bieneck/Schneider 2-1 having also won their pool in impressive fashion.

Claes and Hughes first rose to prominence last season when causing a massive upset at the A1 Major Klagenfurt with a victory over Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst.

And the duo show no signs of stopping at in Poreč, having already beaten Carico/Fendrick, Van Iersel/Flier and Agatha/Duda in the pool play this week.

“We’re expecting a tough quarterfinal but we’ll go out and have some fun – we’re in it to win it!” Hughes told us.

“It’s our first five-star event together this summer and we’re so excited.

“Every game so far has had it’s own challenges but this game was probably the toughest as it was elimination and that adds another level of pressure.”

Twelve months ago, Hüberli and Betschart finished fifth at the Poreč Major having come through qualification and now they want to go even further.

Nina told us: “It’s always hard to qualify and then stay in the qualification all week because there’s a lot of games but since we won the group at least we had a day off.

“I mean if you play all the way up to the quarterfinals you should always have a good feeling about the tournament.

“We enjoy playing in Poreč and we hope we can do better than last year.”

The two teams will meet at 3pm CET and you can watch it all on BeachStream.

Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes have won all four matches so far. Can they make it five in a row in the quarterfinals?