Sydbank Arena, Kolding
Netherlands vs France 28:25 (15:12)

Netherlands overturned a run of seven consecutive competitive losses against France as they recorded a three-goal victory over their quarter-final opponents in Kolding to win 28:25.

Their previous best performance at an IHF Women's World Championship or EHF European Championship was back in 2005 when they finished fifth at the World Championships but they can now finish no lower than fourth at Denmark 2015.

Defence was always going to play a key part in the match as the Dutch - top scorers at the tournament at the beginning of the day – faced the meanest defence in France.

As expected the game was tight and evenly balanced for large periods in the first half, but Netherlands have the formidable Tess Wester in goal and the 22-year-old pulled off save after save to deny the French from going into the break ahead.

After Allison Pineau had put her French side ahead 10:9 through the penalty line in the 20th minute Dutch coach Henk Groener took a team time out and then saw his side go on a 6:2 run to the half which was to prove the keys to success.

What was more remarkable was that his side were playing with a player down thanks to a two-minute suspension but with Wester in goal, they did not need to worry as she continued to keep Alain Portes’ side at bay.

Back court player Estavana Polman even had a spell in goal after Netherlands had pushed on an extra attacker but after they went up 13:11 Wester pulled off a miraculous save after France tried a full court lob.

The Dutch ‘keeper ended up in the advertising hoardings, having crashed into them but that summed up the fighting Oranje spirit throughout the match as France looked sluggish and one dimensional.

Pineau embraced her role as leader as she grabbed her side and pushed them back into the game at 22:20 down with 10 minutes remaining but Wester proved a formidable wall and as Netherlands again lost players through suspensions France could not capitalise on the extra body.

Alexandra Lacrabere, who scored the winner against Spain in their last match, tried to breach the Dutch defence with Gnasniane Niombla, but try as they might they could not and maybe that last match had drained them.

In the closing moments both Siraba Dembele and Camile Ayglon resorted to marking Nycke Groot and Polman, but a two-minute suspension for Dembele after an attempted Polman breakthrough with three minutes left effectively ended the French fight.

It was fitting that the final big play was a Wester closedown of a French fastbreak in a one-on-one situation and as Lois Abbingh scored on the buzzer after a final Dutch team time out, there were tears on the court from both sides.

"I am very happy that we made the semi-finals of a World Championship for the first time in our history," said Dutch Coach Henk Groener. "We played very well in our group as you have seen in our results, but against Sweden we drew and we also saw today that we really had to fight until the end.

"I'm very proud of the team how they defended today and it was another outstanding performance from Tess Wester in our goal."

His opposite number Alain Portes was full of praise for the oranje. "The best team won," he said. "They had good tactics and good attacking with beautiful players like Polman, Groot and their goalkeeper Tess Wester, who is news for handball - we hadn't heard about her before."

"We knew this was sitting in us and it is coming out of us," said Polman. "But we have to focus now."

They now face a semi-final match where they will play Poland for the second time at the tournament after they beat them in their final Preliminary Group B game 31:20.

Top scorers in the game were Estavana Polman for Netherlands on 10 strikes and Allison Pineau for France on eight.

Best Player of the Match Supported by adidas: Tess WESTER (NED) - Goalkeeper

Norway vs Montenegro 26:25 (13:11)

In a fiery encounter European champions Norway took time to get up to full speed against a Montenegrin side who had led for the first 15 minutes of the second quarter-final at the Sydbank Arena but eventually earned a hard-fought win to make the semi-finals of Denmark 2015.

They managed to get back in touching distance with their opponents just in time as they went on a 7:1 run to go up by four at 12:8 in the 26th minute and if it had not have been for a final four-minute three goals from Marija Jovanovic then the two goal (13:11) half-time lead for the Scandinavians could have been much more.

The second half started explosively as first Heidi Loke was given a two-minute suspension and then S Lazovic was show a direct red card after just 120 seconds of the half after a clash with a Norwegian – Montenegrin official Emir Beslija was also shown a yellow card for his protestations from the bench.

Seconds later Milena Raicevic and then Stine Oftedal received two minute suspensions as the game effectively became four-a-side.

As both teams gathered themselves after the madness of the opening four minutes of the second period they took turns to score but after Loke lost possession, the Montenegrins eventually pulled level at 16:16 in the 38th minute.

Another 120 seconds of madness then followed again as Molid was given two minutes on 40 minutes, swiftly followed by Majda Mehmedovic and then Stine Skogrand. This time it was the Norwegian bench shown a yellow as Coach Thorir Hergeirsson was given his warning.

The game settled down again with Norway leading 19:17 and after drawing level again at 21:21 Montenegro loss the opportunity to go in front as they first caused a 7m and then missed and turned over the ball when Norway were yet another player down.

Solberg, who ended with a 32% save rate had effectively decided the game when she saved a 7m penalty from Katarina Bulatovic as the game went into its final three minutes. The score was 25:23 and Norway proceeded to go up the other end of the court to put them up by three as Dragan Adzic called his final team time out with 90 seconds remaining.

The body language showed they knew this battle was over, despite a later double from Jovanka Radicevic and Bulatovic and as the players left the court, Norway returned after their warm-down to watch the end of Denmark vs Romania – with Romania their semi-final opponents.

Top-scorers in the match were Nora Mork (8 goals) for Norway and Majda Mehmedovic and Jovanka Radicevic on six goals each for Montenegro.

Best Player of the Match Presented by adidas: Nora MORK (NOR) – Right Back