The women’s water polo quarter-finalists are locked in at the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, with JPN reaching the last eight for the first time and GRE reaching the same stage for the 12th straight time. 

ITA were put to the test by CHN with the Chinese throwing everything they had at the Italians. But ITA were always one step ahead at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. CHN came close to stealing the lead multiple times but the Italians remained alert to hang on for the win. NED also easily defeated NZL 14-9 and will face ESP in the quarter-finals on 19 July. 

FRA put up a thrilling first-half display to go neck and neck with World Cup champions GRE, who had surged to a 3-0 lead. But FRA shook off their nerves to tie the match at 4-4 after the first quarter. FRA took the lead a few times in the second but GRE remained ahead by one goal at half-time. A re-energised GRE came out after the break and started to dominate, eventually claiming a huge 23-9 win to set up a quarter-final clash against Olympic silver medallists AUS.

In the last match of the day, world No. 14 JPN defied the odds and reached their nation’s first-ever world championships quarter-final in spectacular fashion after thrashing world No. 11 GBR 23-10. The Asians were on the front foot from start to finish, racing to a 6-2 lead after the first quarter and never letting up. GBR had no answer to JPN’s unique style of quick counter-attacks and also could not find solutions to penetrate their opponents’ tight defence. 

Hosts SGP also played their first classification game, falling 18-9 to ARG. They will play RSA, who were defeated 16-6 by CRO, for 15th place on 17 July.

The full results are as follows –
SGP 9-18 ARG
CRO 16-6 RSA
ITA 13-11 CHN
NZL 9-14 NED
GRE 23-9 FRA
JPN 23-10 GBR

The quarter-final line-ups are – 
AUS v GRE
USA v JPN
HUN v ITA
ESP v NED

Photo Credit: World Aquatics

The World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 runs from 11th July to 22nd August 2025. More information available here

The full schedule for the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 can be found here. Details on ticketing can be found here, and information on the extensive global coverage of the event can be found here.