Cape Town - The South African women's water polo side put in a dominant performance in beating hosts South Korea at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju on Saturday.
Playing in the bracket to determine the 13th-16th-place finishers, SA won 26-3.
The eight-minute quarters read 7-1, 4-0, 7-1, 8-1.
SA found themselves in the bracket after group defeats to the Netherlands (33-0), New Zealand (17-4) and the USA (26-1).
SA will now move on to face Japan in the match to determine 13th - or 14th - place in the final overall standings.
Japan beat Cuba 21-9 in their bracket clash.
The SA v Japan match will take place on Monday, July 22 at 02:30 SA time.
Win or lose, the result will be SA's best ever finish at a world championship having finished no better than 15th in their previous five appearances.
At the last world championships in 2017, the SA women's side finished 16th - and last - in the tournament, scoring 20 goals in five matches and conceding 65.
The SA women's team was thrown into turmoil in the weeks leading up to the tournament when coach Seri Harris was inexplicably axed.
Harris, who was coaching voluntarily, only found out about her dismissal when the squad was announced - and her name wasn't read out.
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