Wang Shuang continued her streak of scoring in every game with a superb hat-trick, and Xiao Yuyi and Gu Yasha also got on the score-sheet as the Steel Roses defeated Thailand for the fourth time in 2018.

Jia Zuiquan's side's bid for a first Asian Games gold medal since 1998 remains on track, with a semi-final against World No 42 Chinese Taipei to come on Tuesday.

Goals to Mana Iwabuchi and Yui Hasegawa proved crucial for the Nadeshiko, with DPR Korea unable to mount a successful recovery despite Kim Nam-hui's 71st-minute penalty.

DPR Korea's elimination is their earliest ever, with the 2018 edition of the tournament marking their first failure to claim a medal in Asian Games women's football history.

Vietnam had 22 shots at goal, but Chinese Taipei goalkeeper Tsai Ming-jung was the hero, as her string of saves during the match were followed by a superb denial of Pham Hoang Quynh in the crucial penalty shootut.

Chasing a first Asian Games medal in over 20 years, Chinese Taipei began with a flourish, and Yu Hsiu-chin had the ball in the back of the net inside four minutes, only for her celebration to be cut short by the assistant referee's correctly-raised flag.

Vietnam had suffered a 7-0 defeat to Japan in their final group stage outing, and they took time to settle in the quarter-final, but they began to dictate terms and the scoring chances followed, with Huynh Nhu going close twice in the space of a minute.

Jeon Ga-eul's early brace got the Koreans off to a strong start, before further goals to Lee Geum-min, Moon Mira and Lee Min-a helped them set up a semi-final clash against either Japan or DPR Korea on Tuesday.

Riding high from a 6-1 win over Tajikistan, Hong Kong started relatively strongly to keep their opponents at bay, but the writing was on the wall when Jeon made 1-0 in the 20th minute, then doubled the tally 12 minutes later.

Hong Kong may have feared the worst when Lee Geum-min made it 3-0 after just 34 minutes, but - despite a vast disparity in statistics measuring possession and shots at goal - Jose Ricardo Rambo's side kept the score relatively competitive thanks to a string of saves from Leung Wai-Nga in goal.

The match had ended 2-2 after extra time with UAE winning the shoot-out 4-3. They will play the winners of the Bangladesh-DPR Korea tie in the quarter-finals.

It was action right from the start as UAE had early looks at goal with efforts from Mohammed Almesmari and Rashed Musabbah in the first three minutes, which kept Indonesian goalkeeper Andritany Ardhiyasa busy.

Saudi Arabia were spectacular as they bagged four goals in the first 60 minutes and survived a late Chinese revival to seal a quarter-final match-up with the winners of the Japan-Malaysia tie.

In the opening minutes, Group C winners China flexed their muscles as they held the lion’s share of possession and pressed Saudi Arabia, who came into the Round of 16 tie as one of the best third-placed teams.

However in the 16th minute, a Saudi Arabia counter-attack caught the Chinese backline offguard with Ayman Shafiq Al Khulaif surging down the middle before sending a brilliant through pass to Haroune Moussa Camara and the forward easily beat goalkeeper Chen Wei to claim the lead for his side.

The win for Vietnam sets up a semi-final encounter against Syria, who edged Palestine 1-0 earlier on Thursday.

Vietnam, the 2018 AFC U23 Championship runners-up, found it hard to break down their West Asian opponents, who had better chances in front of goal with Mohamed Marhoon testing goalkeeper Ngyuen Van Noang from a free-kick in the 16th minute and again in open play 22 minutes later.

The East Asians’ best chance came after Bahrain were reduced to 10 men in the 42nd minute following Ahmed Sanad’s dismissal but Luong Xuan Truong’s effort did not trouble Bahrain shotstopper Ammar Ahmed as both teams drew a blank at halftime.