Slowly but surely, Nesthy Petecio is just a steep gradient away from scaling Mount Olympus.

Petecio became the third Filipino Olympic boxing finalist as her aggressive style nipped Italian Irma Testa via majority decision Saturday at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Petecio started slowly in the first round as Testa used her superior heigh and reach advantage to throw a few jabs on the Filipina to win the opening round.

Petecio, however, adjusted in the second round by pressing inside Testa’s reach and engaging from within.

Testa then employed dirty tactics as she began to grapple Petecio to neutralize her aggression—a style that earned her reprimands from the referee.

Petecio slugged it out in the third round, throwing power punches after power punches to Testa’s head as the Italian continued on her grappling in addition to turning her back to Petecio, which is an illegal move.

In the end, four judges scored the fight for Petecio and only one favored Testa.

With the win, she became the first Philippine boxer to enter the finals since Mansueto Velasco in 1996.

Prior to Velasco, the late Anthony Villanueva became the first Filipino boxer finalist in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Petecio will vie for the gold on Tuesday, August 3, versus the winner of the other semifinals bout between Japan’s Sena Irie and the United Kingdom’s Karriss Artingstall which will happen tonight.