Pool A: Dorjsuren (MGL)
Dorjsuren looked off-form in her first bout and had to rely on a shido to get past Sanne Verhagen (NED). She only very narrowly beat Monteiro, during Golden Score, by a shido. It wasn't a great start though she would more than make up for it later in the day.
Pool B: Matsumoto (JPN)
Matsumoto beat her first opponent, Zouleiha Abzetta Dabonne (CIV) rather easily with newaza, pinning her for ippon. Her next match, against Automne Pavia (FRA) was a lot tougher and a few times it looked like Pavia could have stolen the match with her tactical edge play. But time ran out with no points for either player. During Golden Score Matsumoto managed to sneak in a sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for waza-ari.
Pool C: Silva (BRA)
Silva, looking very much like a woman on a mission, threw Miryam Roper (GER) with an uchimata for waza-ari in just 14 seconds. A few seconds later, she countered Roper for waza-ari-awasatte-ippon. Silva continued to demonstrate her throwing capabilities by beating Kim Jandi (KOR) with kosoto-gari for waza-ari. After that, she beat Karakas Hedvig (HUN) with a side-takedown for waza-ari. Silva was looking sharp going into the semis.
Pool D: Caprioriu (ROU)
Caprioriu defeated Nora Gjakova (KOS) with a tomoe-nage for yuko and an uchimata, also for yuko. Next, she threw Lien Chen-Ling (TPE) with tani-otoshi for ippon.
Repecharge
In the first repecharge match, Monteiro used tomoeo-nage against Pavia three times. The second time she tried to transition into an armlock but it didn't work. The third time though, she managed to straighten the arm for ippon. The French player looked devastated at the defeat. Meanwhile, Lien edged past Karakas with a yuko score from a big uchimata that would have scored higher had the Hungarian not spun out as she did. It was enough to win Lien the match though.
Semi-Final
As if to make up for her sluggish performance earlier, Dorjsuren made short work of Matsumoto by taking her to the edge of the mat and dropping underneath with ippon-seoi-nage for an indisputable ippon. This was not the first time she had beaten the Japanese – Matsumoto had lost to Dorjsuren in July 2015 at the Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix – but the speed and effortlessness of the attack was a big surprise. The second semi-final match, between home favourite Silva and Caprioriu, had the audience members on the edge of their seats as the match went deep into Golden Score. At the three-minute mark Silva threw caution to the wind and launched into a big hooking osoto-gari. Caprioriu picked her up to try to do an ura-nage but the Brazilian proceeded to take her down for a waza-ari win.
Bronze
Monteiro, who had been using tomoe-nage a lot in this competition, used it again and scored with it against Caprioriu. Although it only given a yuko, it was enough for her to win the match. The Lien-Matsumoto match was an exciting one as both players knew each other well having trained together in Japan. Both also liked to do newaza and Lien very nearly caught Matsumoto with sankaku – almost identical to the kind she caught her with at the 2016 Guadalajara Grand Masters. For her part, Matsumoto did her unique turnover which briefly trapped Lien but the Taiwanese player was clearly familiar with it and managed to escape. With less than a minute to go, Matsumoto attacked with kouchi-makikomi, which caught Lien by surprise. It scored yuko and won her the bronze.
Day 3: Women's -57kg
A total of 23 judokas took part in the women's -57kg division. Among the top competitors were Sumiya Dorjsuren (MGL), Telma Monteiro (POR), Kaori Matsumoto (JPN), Corina Caprioriu, and – although she wasn't seeded – Rafaela Silva (BRA).