Nitchaon Jindapol moved into the women's singles semi-finals of the US$355,000 Singapore Open badminton tournament yesterday.
The second seeded Thai needed 46 minutes to overcome Chen Su-yu of Taiwan 25-23, 21-16 in the last eight of the BWF World Tour Super 500 event at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The 27-year-old Phuket native is up against seventh seed Gao Fengjie of China today for a place in the title match.
Gao scraped past compatriot Cai Yanyan 16-21, 21-16, 24-22 in the other quarter-final match.
World No.12 Nitchaon is chasing her second title of the year. She won the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 300 event, in January.
In the top half of the draw, China's Han Yue stunned top seed Yulia Yosephin Susanto of Indonesia 21-11, 19-21, 21-14 to set up a semi-final clash against fifth seed Sayaka Takahashi, who defeated fellow Japanese Minatsu Mitani 12-21, 21-13, 21-12.
Top seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai survived a tough match against sixth seeds Tang Jinhua and Yu Xiaohan of China 21-19, 26-24 to reach the women's doubles semis for a second successive tournament.
But fourth seeded compatriots Chayanit Chaladchalom and Phataimas Muenwong failed to make it through, losing 16-21, 17-21 to Japanese fifth seeds Ayako Sakuramoto and Yukiko Takahata, whose victory denied an all-Thai showdown in today's semis.
Meanwhile Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai maintained their challenge in the mixed doubles event.
The Thai pair fought back after dropping the first game to beat Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung of Hong Kong 18-21, 21-8, 21-16.
They next face second seeds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai of Malaysia, who had a much easier workout against Indonesia's Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, winning 21-17, 21-13.
There was disappointment for the Kingdom's stars in the men's doubles event yesterday.
Third seeds Tinn Isriyanat and Kittisak Namdash were upset by No.5 pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 19-21, 19-21, while Bodin Isara and Maneepong Jongjit pulled out of their quarter-final against Indonesia's Angga Pratama and Rian Agung Saputro because of Bodin's knee injury.
