TEHRAN - Iran stayed on course to win a third AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup title by overcoming Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

They were made to sweat for the 3-1 victory at the Hohhot Sports Centre by a determined opposition, who were gunning to reach the last four for the first time.

The breakthrough was made by the Central Asians after just two minutes when Mahtab Banaei was fouled by goalkeeper Chu Fang-Yi in the area, allowing Maral Torkaman to step up and smash in the penalty for her second goal of the tournament.

But Chinese Taipei did find the equalizer in the 18th minute through a well-worked kick-in routine, which saw Chen set up Liu Wen Ling to lash in her tournament-leading fifth goal from range.

After the match finished 1-1 at the end of regulation time, Fereshteh Khosravi and Farzaneh Tavasoli netted deep in extra time to make it 13 wins in 14 matches overall.

Iran will play Japan on Thursday in the semifinals.