Having missed out on a top two finish in Group A, the Russian team were forced to come through the quarter-finals if they were to keep their hopes of winning the tournament alive.

They found themselves on the back foot in the first period of the match against the host nation, who had progressed to this stage of the event by finishing second in Group B.

The Russian team were able to soak up the Czech pressure and were able to take control of the tie in the second period with Oxana Bratisheva scoring the opening goal of the contest.

Yelena Provorova increased Russia’s advantage shortly afterwards, with the Czech team being short-handed due to player penalties.

Having moved 2-0 ahead, the Russian team defended their advantage in the final period to set up a semi-final showdown with the United States.

Both the United States and Canada were already assured of places in the last four after securing top two finishes in Group A, which featured the best four nations from last year’s event.

The Canadian team will take on the winners of the second quarter-final match, which features Group B winners Finland and Sweden, who finished bottom of Group A.

Japan and Switzerland are also set to begin a best of three play-off, with the losers suffering relegation.

The two teams finished bottom of Group B.

Switzerland with head into the series with a psychological advantage, having won 2-1 against Japan in their final group match yesterday.