Thanks to the absence of world No.1 Tai Tzu-ying, No.9 Ratchanok Intanon is seeded eighth at the world championships in Scotland later this month.
Taiwan's Tai will miss the world championships, to be held in Glasgow from Aug 21–27, because she has to play at the World University Games on home soil.
Ratchanok, 22, is the youngest ever world badminton champion when she won the title in 2013.
She is still Thailand's only world champion in the sport.
Ratchanok is fresh from winning New Zealand Open title on Sunday. It is her second triumph of the year after her success at the Thailand Open in June.
Both tournaments are second-tier Grand Prix Gold events.
Ratchanok has had a less-than-impressive campaign this season in the top-tier Superseries.
She began the season with a runner-up finish at the All England Open, losing to Tai in the final.
But she has since suffered several early exits and failed to retain the titles in three Superseries events in April.
"My confidence has been boosted by the win in New Zealand,'' said Ratchanok.
Japan's Akane Yamaguchi is the top seed in the women's singles at the Glasgow tournament, ahead of South Korea's Sung Ji-Hyun, defending champion Carolina Marin of Spain, India's PV Sindhu and China's Sun Yu and He Bingjiao, according to the sport's governing body Badminton World Federation.
Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, Sayaka Sato and Aya Ohori are seeded seventh, 10th and 11th respectively, while world junior champion Chen Yufei from China is the ninth seed.
In the men's singles, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk is seeded 13th.
Tanongsak and Ratchanok are the only Thai players at the world championships.
Son Wan-Ho of South Korea is the men's top seed, ahead of Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, and China's Shi Yuqi and defending champion Chen Long.
Five-time champion Lin Dan of China is seeded seventh.
Indians Kidambi Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram and Sai Praneeth are seeded at No.8, No.13 and No.15 respectively.