With both countries losing their opening Pool J1 clashes against back-to-back Olympic champions Brazil, today's encounter was a straight shoot-out for the second last four berth available at the major women's tournament.

It was the Russians who prevailed, coming through 27-25, 26-24, 25-19 to end home hopes and book a semi-final against defending champions United States.

Nataliya Goncharova topped all scorers with 27 points in the game, including 23 attacks and four blocks in the Russian success.

Russia coach Yury Marichev said: As a coach, I truly admire the Thai team. 

"They have very good technique and they are very active. 

"It was so tough for us to beat them."

"For the upcoming match against USA, we will prepare more and will not underestimate them.”

In Pool K1 the US, who had already qualified for the semi-finals, saw off China 25-21, 26-24, 25-22.

The result ended the hopes of the Chinese, who lost both pool matches, and means The Netherlands have gone through to face Brazil.

USA coach Karch Kiraly said: “We didn’t play our best volleyball, but I really like how we played and responded. 

"We brought things back in control, that’s the big part of how we played in this match. 

"It’s just making a good play after a another. 

"We’ve improved every day. 

"We did a pretty nice job by attacking from the service line. 

"We did a nice job on blocking. 

"We also tried something different using the two-libero system."

Both semi-finals will be played tomorrow at the Indoor Stadium Huamark.