Serbia beat Australia in water polo

Australia will need a Japanese miracle to reach the Olympic men's water polo quarter-finals.

Friday night's 10-8 loss to Serbia meant the world No.1 team replaced Australia in fourth place on the Pool A table.

With one round of pool games left, Australia must beat equal-top side Greece and then hope Japan pull off a monumental upset against Serbia later on Sunday.

The top four teams make the quarter-finals.

Japan are yet to win at the Rio Olympics and are - 21 on goal difference.

"I just had one calculation - try to beat Serbia and qualify," said Australian coach Elvis Fatovic.

"We will treat the Greece game like it's the one we have to win to make the quarter-finals.

"We want to finish like we've played in the last couple of games - that's the plan."

Australia played well to lead 5-4 at halftime and John Cotterill's first goal tied the scores at 7-7 with five minutes left in the last quarter.

Nikola Jaksic, Filip Filipovic and Slobodan Nikic then scored a goal apiece to secure Serbia's first win in the Olympic tournament.

Cotterill scored a consolation goal with seconds left.

Fatovic said when the game was on the line, Serbia's greater experience was crucial.

"That's our disadvantage compared with Europeans," he said.

"They go through games like this during the club season so many times.

"Unfortunately for us, it happens once, twice a year, which is not enough."

Goalkeeper Joel Dennerley was superb for Australia, blocking 11 of 21 shots and repeatedly frustrating Serbia through the middle of the match.