The group matches of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 International Baseball Tournament ended up on August 20 as title favorite Japan gradually found its form after two wins by small margins to crush China 7-1 yesterday. France fell to Czech Republic and has to face the unbeaten Japan in the semifinals.

In yesterday's match, China opened the scoring but Japan, ranked in the world top three, came from one point behind to score in 4 out of 5 innings.

Despite having three runners on base in the fourth, China made more mistakes since the fifth and was collapsed in the ninth, losing 3 points in one inning.

Czech Republic, who pulled Japan in two extras the day before, clinched an easy win of 6-1 over France with the performance of their batters.

France outhit the Czechs two in the game but missed many scoring opportunities.

The semifinals will be held on August 22 with Japan taking on France in the morning and China Battling the Czechs in the evening.