Budapest, Hungary, July 20.— Defending champion United States of America has romped into Monday's women's water polo quarterfinals after day-three action at the FINA World Championships at the Alfred Hajos Pool.

It will be joined by Group D winner Greece, Group A victor Italy and, to the delight of the host nation, Hungary completed the quartet with a stirring 10-8 Group C decider over Netherlands in front of 8000 screaming fans in the night's feature match. Captain Rita Keszthelyi received a bloody nose in the encounter, was sidelined for a spell and then came back with two last-quarter goals for the stunning victory. Dutch captain Yasemin Smit was valiant in the jaws of defeat with four second-half strikes.

USA's quarter-final charge, with Maddy Musselman notching four goals, came at the expense of a defiant New Zealand, winning 22-7. Spain, with  Judith Forca a five-goal hero, sent off a determined South Africa 17-3 and settled for second spot in the group.   

Group D proved to be the hardest to separate. Eleftheria Plevritou scored three goals as Greece had an exciting 11-8 victory over Australia, leaving Australia second after both finishing with two wins and a loss. Russia also finished with four points, beating Kazakhstan 15-6. However, goal differential proved king in the tiebreaker between the three — Greece +1, Australia 0 and Russia -1.

Italy finished its Group A campaign defeating China 16-7 for what were three easy victories. Canada, with Kyra Christmas almost unstoppable with five goals, took second place with two wins, including today's domineering 16-6 margin over Brazil.

The group winners earn a short holiday as other teams play the second round on Saturday to see who will advance to the all-important match-ups with the top four on Monday.

The second and third teams in the groups go to the second round and the bottom teams will play their 13-16 classification rounds.

 

Final points:

Group A: Italy 6, Canada 4, China 2, Brazil 0.

Group B: USA 6, Spain 4, New Zealand 2, South Africa 0.

Group C: Hungary 6, Netherlands 4, France 2, Japan 0.

Group D: Greece 4, Australia 4, Russia 4, Kazakhstan 0.

 

Today's results:

Match 17. 09:30, Group C, JAPAN 8 FRANCE 9

Match 19, 10.50, Group D, AUSTRALIA 8 GREECE 11

Match 20, 12:10, Group D, RUSSIA 15 KAZAKHSTAN 6 

Match 21. 13:30, Group A, ITALY 16 CHINA 7 

Match 22. 17:30, Group A, BRAZIL 6 CANADA 16 

Match 23, 18:50, Group B, NEW ZEALAND 7 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 22

Match 19, 20.10, Group C, NETHERLANDS 8 HUNGARY 10

Match 24. 21:30, Group B, SOUTH AFRICA 3 SPAIN 17

 

Second Round draw, Saturday:

Match 25: 10:30, 4A Brazil v 4B South Africa

Match 26: 12:00, 4C Japan v 4D Kazakhstan

Match 27: 17:30, 2A Canada v 3B New Zealand

Match 28: 19:00, 3A China v 2B Spain

Match 29: 20:30, 2C Netherlands v 3D Russia

Match 30: 22:00, 3C France v 2D Australia