(Photo credit: Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK)

BetBoom Team, Team Spirit, Team Yandex and Team Liquid advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals on the first day of the PGL Wallachia Season 7 playoffs on Thursday in Bucharest, Romania.

BetBoom blanked HEROIC 2-0, and Spirit did the same to Vici Gaming. Yandex defeated Aurora Gaming 2-1, and Liquid rallied to beat Tundra Esports 2-1.

The double-elimination playoffs for the $1 million Dota 2 tournament run through Sunday. All matches are best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final, with the winning team taking home $300,000.

Eight teams advanced from the 16-team group stage, which concluded Wednesday.

On Thursday, BetBoom prevailed in 37 minutes and 47 minutes on green against HEROIC. Ilya 'Kiritych' Ulyanov of Russia averaged 8.5 kills, 2.5 deaths and 10.5 assists over the two maps for BetBoom.

Spirit defeated Vici in 44 minutes and 54 minutes, both on red. Ukraine's Illya 'Yatoro' Mulyarchuk led Team Spirit with an 11.0-3.0-7.0 average kills-deaths-assists ratio.

Yandex sandwiched a 37-minute win and a 40-minute win on red around Aurora's 60-minute win on green. Alimzhan 'watson' Islambekov of Kazakhstan averaged an 11.3-2.0-11.0 K-D-A to guide Yandex.

Tundra opened with a 31-minute win on green, but Liquid tied it with a 30-minute win on red and advanced by winning the third map in 29 minutes on red. On the dominant final map, Michal 'Nisha' Jankowski of Poland posted a 16-0-10 K-D-A and Liquid teammate Michael 'miCKe' Vu of Sweden put up an 11-0-15.

Play continues Friday with four matches:

--BetBoom Team vs. Team Spirit (upper-bracket semifinals)

--Team Yandex vs. Team Liquid (upper-bracket semifinals)

--HEROIC vs. Vici Gaming (lower-bracket Round 1)

--Aurora Gaming vs. Tundra Esports (lower-bracket Round 1)

PGL Wallachia Season 7 prize pool:

1. $300,000

2. $175,000

3. $120,000

4. $80,000

5-6. $60,000

7-8. $40,000

9-11. $20,000 -- Xtreme Gaming, Natus Vincere, PARIVISION

12-14. $15,000 -- Team Falcons, Yellow Submarine, OG

15-16. $10,000 -- Team Nemesis, MOUZ

--Field Level Media