The veterans won their first World Tour tournament in front of their home fans

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Horst and Doppler celebrate their first title in the World Tour ( Photocredit: FIVB)

Hosts Austria dominated the FIVB World Tour one-star Baden Open this weekend as the country kept three of the six medals in play in the tournament in home soil, including gold and silver in the men’s event.

In the men’s event, the host country showed its dominance by placing two teams in the gold medal match. In the end, veterans Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst came from behind to post a three-set victory (18-21, 21-16, 15-13) over Tobias Winter and Julian Hörl and finish on top in front of over 5,000 fans.

"The first two sets were even, but we managed to feel better in the game," Doppler said after the victory. "They pushed us to limited and I'd say they deserved to win as much as we did today. Austria against Austria is always hard."

Gold beim Baden Open!!!! #dopplerhorst #a1 #seat #vapiano #sportlandnoe #hyponoe #steyrtraktoren #kleiderbauer #nike #swatch

359 Likes, 10 Comments - AlexHorst (@alexhorst10) on Instagram: "Gold beim Baden Open!!!! #dopplerhorst #a1 #seat #vapiano #sportlandnoe #hyponoe #steyrtraktoren..."

It was the first-ever gold medal for the veterans Doppler, 37, and Horst, 35, either playing together or individually in the World Tour. The Austrians, who recently starred the Serve the Sky photoshoot, combine for 291 international events and have shared the same side of the court 55 times, earning one gold, three silver and one bronze medals. They were the runners-up of last year's World Championships in Vienna.

The week was twice as special for Doppler, who has been competing in the World Tour since 1998 and played his 700^th international match on Saturday, in the Baden Open’s quarterfinals. His accomplishment was celebrated at the venue.

700 (!!!) internationale Spiele! Clemens, ein Wahnsinn! Unser aller Respekt! #bvbaden18 #bvbaden #BadenOpen18 #Beachvolleyball #beachvolleyballhautnah #CEV #EuroBeachVolley #BeachWorldTour #FIVB #Baden #SummerintheCity #lifeisgood #Summer #Party #FunandAction

159 Likes, 4 Comments - Beachvolleyball Baden (@beachvolleyball.baden) on Instagram: "700 (!!!) internationale Spiele! Clemens, ein Wahnsinn! Unser aller Respekt! #bvbaden18 #bvbaden..."

Norway’s rising star Anders Mol and Bjaern Huss prevented an all-Austrian podium from happening by taking Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz down in two sets (21-14, 21-19) in the bronze medal match.

In the women’s tournament, Austrians Katharina Schutzenhofer and Lena Plesiutschnig, who won the three-star event in Mersin last month, marched all the way to the final in front of their home crowd, but they couldn’t handle Germans Teresa Mersmann and Cinja Tillmann, who prevailed in straight sets (21-17, 21-16) to win their second gold medal in seven days – they had also topped the podium in their National Tour last weekend.

🥈 Had a lot of fun playing here in Baden with @lenaplesiutschnig!! 🔥😁 Thanks to everybody for the awesome days! 🔥 #verival#kempa#szigeti#holmesplace#sporthilfe#bundesheer#neoh#bvbteamkl 📸 @beachvolleyball.baden

301 Likes, 9 Comments - Katharina Schützenhöfer (@kathi_schuetzenhoefer) on Instagram: "🥈 Had a lot of fun playing here in Baden with @lenaplesiutschnig!! 🔥😁 Thanks to everybody for the..."

Norway’s Emilie Olimstad and Janne Pedersen also found their way to the podium by claiming bronze after a two-set (21-16, 21-16) victory over Latvia’s  Agnese Caica and Marta Ozolina.

Josi and Lili win back-to-back golds in China

In Nanjing, China, Brazilians Lili Maestrini and Josi Alves confirmed their good form by winning their second World Tour gold medal in as many weeks in the country as they topped the podium of the women-only two-star event with a 2-1 (21-18, 21-23, 15-11) win over the local tandem of  Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia.

The Brazilians, who had also won Nantong’s two-star tournament last week, are now enjoying a 12-match winning streak in the World Tour.

“We’re very happy about our latest results,” Lili said. “We improved in every match on our way to the final and we faced China’s top team with the support of all the fans in the stadium. We had some struggles, but we played together and our desire to win back-to-back titles pushed us forward.”

Acabamos de conquistar mais uma etapa do mundial na China! Obrigada a todos que torceram, mandaram msg lindas e se divertiram com a gente. Obrigada @wadsonerik @pranchasfv @matheus.bandeira_ @neidebentosabino por toda dedicação nos treinos pra que nos pudéssemos alcançar esses resultados. Obrigada @ayofitnessclub e @ergosfortaleza por acreditarem no nosso trabalho e estarem ao nosso lado em todos os momentos! Obrigada meu amor @larissamaestrini pela torcida e inspiração! Obrigada minha família amada por serem minha base. Obrigada meus amigos queridos que mandam sempre mta energia positiva! Obrigada Josi por toda garra e superação! Obrigada meu Deus por me dar saúde pra correr atrás dos meus sonhos! Gratidão, gratidão, gratidão!!! 🥇🥇🇧🇷🇨🇳

435 Likes, 53 Comments - Lili Maestrini França (@lili_maestrini) on Instagram: "Acabamos de conquistar mais uma etapa do mundial na China! Obrigada a todos que torceram, mandaram..."

Americans Amanda Dowdy and Irene Pollock finished third after a three-set (21-19, 16-21, 16-14) victory over Chinese Meimei Lin and Lingdi Zhu.

The World Tour continues next week with three double-gender events – a four-star tournament in Ostrava, Czech Republic, a two-star contest in Sentosa, Singapore, and a one-star event in Manavgat, Turkey.