Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon is through to the semi-finals of the China Open badminton tournament after upsetting world No.1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan 10-21, 21-9, 22-20 on Friday.
The Thai star, seeded eighth in the tournament, will face fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the semi-final on Saturday afternoon at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center in Fuzhou.
Ratchanok, the 2013 world champion, has been making an impressive return to form this year, with victories in three Grand Prix Gold tournaments in Thailand, New Zealand and Denmark. Her win in Odense, Denmark over defending champion Yamaguchi was her best performance of the year so far.
As a result, she has improved her world ranking from ninth to sixth. Yamaguchi is currently ranked fourth.
