Ratchanok Intanon booked her berth in the quarter-finals of the New Zealand Open at North Shore Events Centre in Auckland yesterday.
The top-seeded Thai cruised past Jiang Yingzi of Australia 21-2, 21-8 in just 24 minutes and set up a last-eight meeting with Dinar Dyah Ayustine. The sixth seeded Indonesian beat Christine Zhang of Australia 21-14, 21-7.
The 22-year-old Ratchanok hopes to win the US$120,000 Grand Prix Gold tournament this week to boost her confidence ahead of the world championships later this month.
The world championships will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from Aug 21-27.
She also hopes to gain ranking points to make a return to the world's top eight as this will give her an easier path in tournaments.
Ratchanok is the only Thai left in the tournament after Ruethaichanok Laisuan and Supamart Mingchua lost in the second round of the women's doubles event yesterday.
The pair went down to China's Qiao Shijun and Zhang Shuxian 21-14, 13-21, 21-12 in a thrilling three-game encounter that lasted 64 minutes.
Lee Cheuk Yiu followed up on his impressive win against 19th-ranked Jonatan Christie a day earlier with another seeded scalp.
The world No.88 Hong Kong player brushed aside 13th seed Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-10, 21-12 to make it to the last eight of the men's singles event.
Meanwhile, Ratchanok remained No.9 in the world when the latest rankings was released by the Badminton World Federation yesterday. The other three Thai female players Busanan Ongbamrungphan, Nitchaon Jindapon and Pornpawee Chochuwong are Nos.12, 14 and 20 respectively.
Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk is still the highest ranked men's singles player at No.13, while mixed doubles specialists Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai are eighth.