The 18th-ranked Bulgaria followed their five opening round wins with an easy victory over Cuba and sounded a warning to the rest of Group F teams that their impressive winning run is not over yet.

"It was a very important victory, but for sure we couldn't show the best of what we can do today," said Martin Stoev, head coach of Bulgaria.

Defending champion Brazil beat the United States 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 for their first win in the second round, and world bronze medalist France beat Czech Republic 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 to improve their record to 3-1.

World No. 2 Italy also booked a 25-23, 25-22 and 25-16 win over Germany. The Italians now ranked third in Group F, following Bulgaria and Brazil.

In the Group F matches played in Sendai, Poland and Serbia Montenegro both kept a perfect record after they gained win respectively on Saturday.

Poland, who finished atop in Group A in the first round, beat Tunisia 25-22, 25-18, 25-23.

"For me, it is not important to win 3-0, we just want to play to win the game, whatever the score is, at this stage," commented Bulgaria's head coach Raul Lozano after the match.

"We still have important games against Serbia and Montenegro, Canada and Russia so we need to keep our concentration high," added Lozano.

Serbia and Montenegro beat Puerto Rico 25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23 to finish first with a same perfect 4-0 record.

Three-seeded Russia also moved on in their way to the final four as they beat Argentina 25-18, 25-20, 25-14 and ranked third in the Group.

Host Japan defeated Canada 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-22 in another Group E match and head coach Tatsuya Ueta said: "Today we played the game under great pressure, so I told players to play with pride and responsibility and I am satisfied with the result."