Double world silver medallist Maria Suelen ALTHEMAN (BRA) was unbeatable in pool B.
The Brazilian fared a lot better than her heavyweight male counterparts as she safely progressed to the last four. World number two Larisa CERIC (BIH) was peerless in pool C with all three of her contest wins coming by way of ippon.
Pool D also went as expected as Openweight World Championships gold medallist ASAHINA Sarah (JPN) dominated her group in front of her parents.
Semi-Finals
ALTHEMAN, Maria Suelen (BRA) v ORTIZ, Idalys (CUB) ASAHINA, Sarah (JPN) v CERIC, Larisa (BIH)
MEN +100kg: World Judo Masters winner Guram TUSHISHVILI (GEO) won all three of his contests in the opening session by ippon to stroll from pool A into the last four.
There was plenty of shocks in pool B as a former Junior World Championships gold medallist ULZIIBAYAR Duurenbayar (MGL) found his way into the semi-finals. After double Olympic bronze medallist Rafael SILVA (BRA) lost his first contest against Olympic silver medallist HARASAWA Hisayoshi (JPN) the Japanese was then shocked by ULZIIBAYAR.
In pool C world silver medallist David MOURA (BRA) was upset in his first contest by Bekmurod OLTIBOEV (UZB) who starred in the opening session by winning all four of his contests by ippon.
Olympic champion Lukas KRPALEK (CZE) lost his quarter-final against home judoka Ushangi KOKAURI (AZE). KRPALEK, who had defeated 2008 Olympic champion NAIDAN Tuvshinbayar (MGL) in the previous round, was shocked by the impressive Azeri who completed a largely unfamiliar looking semi-final line-up.
Semi-Finals ULZIIBAYAR, Duurenbayar (MGL) v TUSHISHVILI, Guram (GEO) KOKAURI, Ushangi (AZE) V OLTIBOEV, Bekmurod (UZB)
Watch the World Championships live here on the IJF website.