Despite winning just two of their opening five group fixtures, Serbia ensured a first final appearance since securing the World Championship title in 2002, when still playing as Serbia and Montenegro, with a brilliantly tense semi-final victory over France in the Spanish capital.

The Serbians led from start to finish in the encounter, taking a 21-15 lead into the first break with the help of top scorer Miloš Teodosić.

This advantage was extended in the second as they powered to a 25-17 second quarter victory to sit 46-32 ahead going in for half-time.

France began their resurgence in the third period as they quelled the Serbian dominance to fall just a single point further behind.

The fourth and final quarter was where the French side really began to grind their gears, pulling the score to within two on the back of some brilliant play by match-high scorer Nicolas Batum, who ended the game with an impressive 35 points.

Miloš Teodosić led the scoring for Serbia as he netted 24 points to help his side to victory over France and a place in the FIBA World Cup final ©Getty Images



It looked at one point that the French would overturn the 15 point deficit as they continued to pile on the pressure, however, it was not to be with Serbia holding on to their lead by the smallest of margins before Marko Simonović netted a couple of late free throws to put the result beyond doubt.

Serbia will now face the United States in the gold-medal final in Madrid on Sunday (September 14), with the Americans likely to be strong favourites following a dominant display throughout the tournament, including a 96-68 victory over Lithuania in their semi-final last night. 

Before that, Lithuania and France will face off for the bronze medal in Madrid tomorrow. 

France will be hoping to claim their first medal at a World Cup, while Lithuania will be looking to win the bronze medal for the second consecutive Championships. 

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