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Kosta Perovic propelled Serbia into the EuroBasket semi-finals as his side dumped defending champions Russia out of the tournament.

Inspired by centre Perovic, Serbia blasted into a 38-24 lead, courtesy of a 17-0 streak in the second quarter before wrapping up a 79-68 victory.

Perovic scored 11 of his 13 points in the second quarter, Novica Velickovic also notched 13 and Nenad Krstic chipped in with ten across the match.

"This is a great result for us. We came into the tournament with a goal of booking a place into next year's world championships and now we are in the semi-finals. It's a fantastic effort," said Kristic, who is Serbia's oldest player at 26.

Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic added: "I think we deserved this victory tonight. We have reached our first target, which was qualifying for Turkey.

"The key of the game was our bench players. We really played as a team. Also keep was the defence in the second quarter."

Serbia will now face either Slovenia or Croatia for a spot in Sunday's final in Katowice.

Russia's Vitalii Fridzon top-scored in the match with 15 points but David Blatt's side could not recover from the 17-0 surge from Serbia.

"There are some games when you can come and make statements and excuses," added Blatt. "But this was one not of them. They dominated in every category. It was pretty clear who was the better team today.

"Serbia pretty much did what they wanted against anything we did. And we couldn't handle the things they threw at us in the second quarter."

Serbia will be joined in the last four by world champions Spain , who secured an emphatic 86-66 win over France.

Pau Gasol, instrumental in Spain's victory over Poland in the previous round, was once more in imperious form, notching 28 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, all game highs.

"Our physical condition is so much different that we can now work however we want to," said head coach Sergio Scariolo, whose side will now face Greece or Turkey in the semi-finals.

"We beat an excellent team. They have heart and pride and never gave up."

More than the Games / Eurosport