Spain and the Netherlands advance to women’s water polo semifinals at the Paris Olympics

NANTERRE, France (AP) - Spain and the Netherlands advanced to the semifinals of the women’s water polo tournament at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.

Spain rolled over Canada for an 18-8 victory, and the Netherlands beat Italy 11-8 in the second quarterfinal. The European powers will face off on Thursday at Paris La Defense Arena.

Australia played Greece and the United States faced Hungary in the final two quarterfinals of the day. The U.S. is going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal.

Spain, which lost to the U.S. in the Tokyo final, improved to 5-0 at the Olympics. It has outscored its opponents 69-44 so far.

Elena Ruiz scored four times in the quarterfinal win, and Bea Ortiz continued her strong tournament with three more goals. Martina Terre made 12 saves.

Anni Espar Llaquet sparked a 4-0 run for Spain when she scored with 4:58 left in the first quarter. Ortiz’s goal made it 6-1 in the final seconds of the period.

"We knew if we gave Canada a chance they would be in the game, so we had to start very strong and be confident with our game,” Espar Llaquet said.

Verica Bakoc scored five goals for Canada on five shots. Canada dropped to 1-4 heading into a classification game on Thursday.

"We play a little sport in a big country (and) there's not enough people playing,” Axelle Crevier of Canada said. “I feel proud to compete against nations like Spain who have many water polo players."

The Netherlands earned its fourth win of the Olympics. Its only loss came in a penalty shootout against Australia.

Simone van de Kraats, Brigitte Sleeking, Vivian Sevenich and Lieke Rogge each scored two goals on Tuesday.

The Netherlands carried a 6-5 lead into the fourth quarter. Sevenich and Rogge then scored to make it 8-5 with 5:35 to go.

Van de Kraats helped close it out when she made it 11-7 with 1:03 left.

Claudia Marletta scored three goals for Italy. Dafne Bettini and Valeria Palmieri each had two.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games