FINA World Championships 2013: Olympic medallists battle way to women's world final

AKUATIK, Australia and Spain will clash on Friday for the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championship at the Bernat Picornell Pool.

Australia will be seeking a second crown to go with its win in the inaugural women’s World Championships in 1986 - ironically, also in Spain (Madrid) - and Spain will finish higher than before, having done no better than seventh in Melbourne 2007 and 11th in Shanghai two years ago.In London, Spain finished with silver and Australia bronze so two of the top three teams in the world will clash in a real blockbuster.

Australia defeated Russia 9-6 with Nicola Zagame claiming three goals and Spain won a see-sawing encounter with Hungary 13-12 - the winning two goals coming from Laura Lopez in the final quarter.

In the round of 5-8 semifinals, Greece beat Canada 12-8, thanks to four goals from Christina Tsoukala, and Olympic champion United States of America led by three goals early in the final quarter before just holding out Netherlands 12-11.
This means Greece will play USA for fifth and Canada faces Netherlands for seventh.

Friday's final classification round:

15.00 For 7th & 8th Game 41 CAN vs NED
16:30 For 3rd & 4th Game 43 RUS vs HUN
20.45 For 5th & 6th Game 42 GRE vs USA
22.15 For 1st & 2nd Game 44 AUS vs ESP