Portugal's Telma Monteiro fights with Marti Malloy of the U.S. (blue) during their women's -57kg elimination round of 32 judo match at the London 2012 Olympic Games (AP)
American Marti Malloy has knocked out the No. 2 seed at the Olympic judo competition and will fight in the semifinals Monday afternoon.
Second-ranked Portuguese fighter Telma Monteiro had defeated Malloy in their last two meetings, but U.S. coach Jimmy Pedro described Malloy's recent form as "spectacular."
On Monday, Malloy fought off Monteiro's aggressive attempts to grip her uniform and repeatedly tried to throw Monteiro. The fight went into overtime, when Malloy swept Monteiro's foot to make the winning throw.
Malloy won her next two bouts, one with a match-ending ippon and the other by unanimous judges' decision.
Last week, Pedro predicted that if Malloy could get past Monteiro, she would likely make the semifinals of the women's 57-kilogram division and fight for a medal.
In the men's 73-kilogram division, U.S. judoka Nick Delpopolo made the quarterfinals after upsetting the No. 8 seed from Belgium.
Delpopolo, who said he was "stoked" to have made it that far, faces world No. 1 Korean Wang Ki-chun next.
"Every time I fight him, it's a real dogfight," Delpopolo said. He said his strategy would be to stay on the offensive.
"Even if I'm down five points, I'm going to keep fighting until the end," he said.
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