Nagoya, Japan, October 9, 2018 - Hosts Japan take on Pool E leaders Serbia in Nagoya on Wednesday.
Head-to-head· Japan and Serbia (incl. predecessors) meet for the third time at the World Championships.
· Serbia won both encounters, in 2006 in five sets (as Serbia and Montenegro) and in 2010 by 3-1.
· Japan have won seven of the 15 encounters in world level major competitions with Serbia (incl. predecessors). Serbia won eight times.
· The last time Japan won against Serbia at world level came at the 2017 World Grand Prix, a five-set victory after losing the first two sets.
· World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Nations League and Grand Champions Cup.
· These countries also met at the 2018 Nations League. Serbia won in straight sets, with Brankica Mihajlovic and Tijana Boškovic scoring 21 points each.
Japan· Japan have a W6-L1 record at this World Championship. Their defeat came in a five-setter against Netherlands in the first round.
· Japan's six wins in 2018 is most for them since eight wins in 2010.
· Japan could win six successive World Championship matches for the first time since they started the 1982 World Championship with six wins.
· Japan have won five matches in straight sets at the 2018 World Championship. The last year in which they recorded more wins in straight sets was 1982 (6).
· Sarina Koga (91) and Ai Kurogo (90) are Japan's leading scorers.
Serbia· Serbia (W7-L0) still have a perfect record at the 2018 World Championship. They are the only team yet to lose a single set at the tournament.
· Serbia can become the first team to win their first eight matches of a World Championship campaign all in straight sets.
· Serbia are the first country to start a World Championship with seven straight-set victories since Cuba won all their seven matches, including the gold medal match against Brazil, by a 3-0 scoreline in 1994.
· Serbia could start a World Championship campaign with eight consecutive wins for the first time. They won their first seven in 2006.
· Serbia have equalled their longest winning run at the World Championship (seven victories in 2006).
· Tijana Boškovic (80 points from spikes) has a 56.7% success rate in spikes.