Only one of the three American wrestlers in action late Wednesday stayed alive for gold in an uneven day for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gable Steveson was terrific in the 125kg class, not conceding a point and scoring 18 between a 1/8 final win over Kyrgyzstan's Aiaal Lazarev and a 1/4 final defeat of Turkey's Taha Akgul.
Steveson will tangle with Mongolia's Monkhtoorlin Lkhagvagerel in the semifinal.
Kyle Dake won his opener in the 74kg class, beating Iran's Mostafa Hosseinkhani 4-0, but 2020 European champion Magomedkhabib Kadimagoedov of Belarus was a much stiffer challenge and scored a 12-0 win over the American.
Jacarra Winchester of Team USA took care of her 1/8 final in the women's 53kg class against Olga Khoroshavtseva of the Russian Olympic Committee by a 7-4 score, but the 1/4 final saw a shocking start put her under fire.
China's Pang Qianyu scored six points in the first few moments of their match, and the 28-year-old Winchester could only manage a pair of points scored the rest of the way.