SAVANNAH MARSHALL sealed a place in the semi-finals of the London International invitational at the ExCel Arena courtesy of a comprehensive display.

The Olympic medal hope from Hartlepool delivered a classy display to outpoint Australian Naomi Fischer-Rasmussen 23-11 to secure a passage from the last eight.

It was a performance from Marshall that highlighted her potential, leaving Fischer-Rasmussen unable to claw herself back in to the contest after a scintillating start.

The North-East middleweight boxer was always in control and forced the woman from Down Under to a standing eight count in the third round, which only cemented a result that always looked like going her way.

Marshall, 20, will now fight American Franchone Crews in the last four today, ahead of tomorrow's finals day when Marshall will be looking to claim gold in the build up to next summer's Olympics.

Fellow Olympic prospect Natasha Jonas was similarly impressive at 60kg as she won 23-15 against American Quanitta Underwood.

Jonas is enjoying the experience in London.

"It was a tough bout to start," she said. "She was really good but I am preparing for the Olympics and I need motivation like that. To prepare for the Olympics in here is great.

"The hall is not as big as it will be in the Olympics but you can feel the atmosphere."

Marshall, however, insists she is blocking the 2012 Games from her mind.

"My biggest aim is to qualify but I'm not even thinking about medals or anything," she said. "I don't even want to talk about my chances of qualifying because I don't want to put a jinx on things. Qualifying would mean the world to me."

Team-mate Nina Smith could not make it three out of three, however, as she lost out on a semi-final place in a 19-5 loss to Russian Olesya Gladkova in the 51kg category.

In men's action, Repton's Martin Ward edged Samat Bashenov of Kazakhstan 14-13.

Ward enjoyed early success with the left hook to go 5-2 up before Bashenov launched a fightback to leave Ward just 9-8 up heading into the final session.

However, Ward kept his composure to eke out the victory and progress to the semis.