Roared on by a crowd of 2,000 at the National Swimming Pool, the hosts overcame the United States, the reigning champions and winners of the last two editions of this event.

Greece claimed a thrilling 4-3 victory to progress to the last four.

Spain overcame Hungary in their quarter-final, taking a commanding lead in the first period which they never relinquished. 

The Spaniards, the 2013 and 2015 silver medallists, led 5-1 after just eight minutes and went on to claim a 15-8 success.

The Netherlands also made it through to the semi-finals after they thrashed Canada 10-2 in the first last eight match of the day.

Three goals from Brigit Mulder and two from Maud Koopman guided the Dutch team to the final four.

Russia completed the line-up for the last four after they claimed a narrow 5-4 win over Italy.

“Both teams were very nervous but at least the defences worked well," said Russian head coach Sergey Markoch 

"Still, we committed two mistakes, especially the last one at the end with that free throw made me a bit angry but at the end it didn’t matter that much.

"We scored two great goals in the fourth period, this also show the character of our team, that we can do such things under pressure."

Semi-final action is due to take place tomorrow.

It is the third time in a row that the Greek port city of Volos has hosted the tournament after it also welcomed the 2013 and 2015 editions.