Russia won the battle of the Pool B giants in Sapporo on Saturday as they beat Olympic champions China 3-1 in the FIVB World Championship for Women.
The Russians turned the tables on their Olympic conquerors to win 20-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-12 after a stuttering start to improve their record to 4-0.
China, who at one point appeared to be running away with the match, dropped to 3-1, though both teams are safely through to the second round in Osaka.
The biggest crowd so far filled more than two thirds of the stadium as Russia and China put on a magnificent show of world-class volleyball.
The opposing strengths emerged in the very first point with Russia's Ekaterina Gamova, Elena Godina and Lioubov Shashkova forming a defensive wall and China looking to move the ball around with skipper Feng Kun calling the shots.
And it was China's tactics that took an early strangehold on the game, much to Russia's concern with coach Giovanni Caprara calling time out at 6-2 down to address Wang Yimei's rocket serves.
Still, China went into the first technical time out 8-2 ahead with their libero Zhang Na neutralising Gamova's spikes.
Gamova managed to claim two points in a row for her team but Yang Hao on the Chinese left was also in fine touch. A couple of mistakes by Russia and some creative Chinese play helped the Asians to a 16-11 second time-out lead.
It was clear that Russia's famed blocking was not going to stop China, especially when it was never known where the Chinese would attack from. They needed to play China at their own game.
This they attempted with Maria Borodakova and Marina Akulova mimicking Feng with some clever and unpredictable setting.
China, however, were prepared for anything. Zhou Suhong and Xu Yunli, along with Yang, were always on hand to spike winners from all areas of the front court.
At 21-16, Wang showed great skill to tip over the Russian defensive three, showing their opponents that they would need more than physical superiority to win points.
Xu sealed the set for China with a fierce spike from mid-court that narrowly stayed in.
Russia went into the second set knowing they needed to focus on attack rather than defence. Shashkova came out with three cracking spikes and Gamova also pelted the Chinese defence as Russia raced to an 8-3 lead.
China were still dangerous on the left with Wang and Yang swapping roles. Zhou, on the right, also created problems for Russia as they fought back to 9-8.
Yang, playing with a constant smile on her face, put China ahead for the first time in the set with a service ace.
Russia had never faced pressure like this in previous Pool B matches and nerves were getting to them.
Simple mistakes only added to China's confidence. Yang again regained the lead for China, at 15-14, with a left wing spike and her deft touch in the next rally put China 16-14 ahead at the second technical time-out.
Russia refused to give up, though, and Borodakova's two-handed flick followed by a rare successful block gave the Russians a 20-18 lead.
China recovered to lead 21-20 but Shashkova gave Russia set point with a sharp spike and Zhou sent her smash long to allow the Russians to level it at one set all.
Godina pounced on a loose set to give Russia an 8-6 lead. Russia's blocking started to become a major factor with Yulia Merkulova spending more time on court.
China's normally effective left wing weapons were running out of ammunition and Gamova's neat tip to open space helped Russia to a 16-11 lead.
Russia took a two sets to one lead when Shashkova's spike was touched out by the Chinese defence.
Russia stormed to a 12-6 third-set lead on the back of some great defence as well as attacks from Gamova and Shashkova.
China's confidence was waning as first-set star Wang saw a series of attempted spikes being blocked or sailing long.
The Russians were simply too strong in the fourth set as Gamova completed victory with a service winner.
