Tania di Mario scored three goals on Sunday as Italy held off Hungary 8-5 and advanced to an Olympic water polo semifinal against the No 1-ranked US women, a rematch of the last world championship decider.
In the other quarterfinal, Greece upset No. 3-ranked Russia 7-4 and will face defending champion Australia in the medal round. Russia was bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics and at the 2003 world championships, where Greece placed ninth. Greece didn't qualify for the Sydney Olympics and weren't expected to threaten in the knockout stage in Athens.
In the last round of preliminaries, Greece had Australia in trouble before the 2000 champions rallied to force a 7-7 tie. Greek coach Kyriakos Iosifidis said he's looking forward to a rematch with Australia.
"Now I can say in public that we wanted the match against Australia to be a tie so that we had to play Russia in the quarterfinals," he said, explaining that Greece's gameplan was suited to beating the Russians.
Making the medal round "is something we've been trying to achieve for many years and we've finally managed it," he added. "Nothing is over, we still have the semifinals in front us and we must remain focussed."
{{/usCountry}}Making the medal round "is something we've been trying to achieve for many years and we've finally managed it," he added. "Nothing is over, we still have the semifinals in front us and we must remain focussed."
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