The home team asserted their dominance of the quarter-final in the early stages, winning the opening set 25-16 at the Parc des Expositions Hall.

Italy were competitive in the second, but France doubled their advantage by edging the set 27-25.

It proved key to the match, with France then puling away to comfortably win the final set 25-14 to advance to the semi-finals.

They will now head to Paris for a match against Serbia, who battled to victory against Ukraine in Antwerp.

Serbia were forced to play a five-set thriller in a topsy-turvy encounter.

They ultimately emerged 21-25, 25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 15-9 winners.

Poland and Slovenia will compete in the second semi-final, in Ljubljana on Thursday (September 26).