SHANGHAI, July 24 -- Nearly letting a 5-goal advantage slip away, Spain edged Australia 9-8 to enter quarterfinals at Swimming Worlds men's water polo here on Sunday.

By the middle of the third period, Spain once led 7-2. Then the Australians started to fight back and narrowed the gap to 9-8 in the final period. However, neither side could score in the last five minutes.

Felipe Perrone Rocha and Javier Garcia Gadea buried game-high three goals each for Spain.

Establishing a leading edge in the very beginning, Montenegro never looked back and thrashed Romania 8-4. Montenegro will confront Group C leaders Croatia in the quarterfinal.

Germany beat Japan 8-6, and the United States whipped Canada 17-4. Both advanced to the last eight.

Hosts China let down the expectation from home crowds with a 8-7 loss to Kazakhstan. China will take on South Africa, who was defeated by Brazil 7-4 an hour later, for the 15th place.

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