Greece will face world champion Russia and Italy will front against Netherlands in the semifinals of the FINA World Women's Junior Water Polo Championship on Saturday at the Olympic Swimming Complex in Funchal.

Italy will take on Netherlands in the first semifinal. Italy beat United States and Netherlands won China in the fifth day of competition in the capital city of Portugal's island Madeira.

Russia will face Greece in the second semifinal. They played the final of the tournament two years ago, when the Russian junior team earned gold and the Greek junior squad took silver.

Greece closed the evening's matches with a win against Spain (10-8). Previously, Russia had surpassed Hungary 18-11.

United States, China, Hungary and Spain will battle for 5th-8th place.

In the round 9-12 semifinals, Australia came good against South Africa with a big 16-5 margin to advance to the play-off for ninth against Canada, who had some difficulties in sending off Brazil 9-7.

In classification matches, Japan left with 13th place thanks to a victory over New Zeland. Kazakhstan won Portugal 13-6 for 15th place.

Friday schedule

Finals - 15th place

Match 31, 09:00, KAZAKHSTAN 13 PORTUGAL 6

Finals - 13 th place

Match 32, 10:20, JAPAN 13 NEW ZEALAND 10

Round 9-12 Semifinals

Match 33, 11:40, BRAZIL 7 CANADA 9

Match 34, 13:00, AUSTRALIA 16 SOUTH AFRICA 5

Quarterfinals

Match 35, 16:00, UNITED STATES 8 ITALY 9

Match 36, 17:20, NETHERLANDS 8 CHINA 6

Match 37, 18:40, RUSSIA 18 HUNGARY 11

Match 38, 20:00, GREECE 10 SPAIN 8

Saturday schedule

Classification 11-12

Match 39, 10:00, BRAZIL v SOUTH AFRICA

Classification 9-10

Match 40, 11:20, CANADA v AUSTRALIA

Classification 5-8 semifinals

Match 41, 12:40, UNITED STATES v CHINA

Match 42, 17:20, HUNGARY v SPAIN

Semifinals

Match 43, 18:40, ITALY v NETHERLANDS

Match 44, 20:00, RUSSIA v GREECE

Photo credit: Duarte Paulini