Ratchanok Intanon cruised into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships in Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Thursday.
The sixth-ranked Thai star, who is chasing her first title at the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event, defeated Iris Wang of the United States 21-14, 21-13 in the second round match that lasted 35-minutes.
Ratchanok, who is seeded fourth at this week's US$850,000 tournament, will play seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in the last eight on Friday.
Blichfeldt defeated Yvonne Li of Germany 21-16, 21-17 earlier in the day.
Ratchanok, who turned 26 last month, defeated Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 21-14, 21-16 in the first round on Wednesday.
The Thai ace is hoping to win her first All England Open crown after finishing runner-up twice in 2013 and 2017.
Ratchanok, then 18, lost to Tine Baun of Denmark in the 2013 final and was beaten by Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying in the 2017 championship match.
In the only other early result involving Thai players, Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Benyapa Aimsaard won their delayed mixed doubles first round match, beating Eloi Adam and Margot Lambert of France 21-19, 22-20.
They were due to play Chang Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying, the third-seeded pair from Malaysia, for a place in the quarter-finals on Thursday night.
Nozomi Okuhara also secured her place in the last eight of the women's singles event after beating Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria 21-6, 21-13.
Okuhara will next play the winner of the match between Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan and fellow Japanese Aya Ohori.
Earlier, men's top seed Kento Momota moved into the last eight with a comfortable 21-15, 21-14 victory over HS Prannoy of India.
The Japanese world No.1 will play either sixth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia or Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Momota, 26, who was back on court after a year out following a car crash, defeated Parupalli Kashyap 21-13, 22-20 in a first-round tie on Wednesday.
This was Momota's first match since Jan 12 last year and it was his first international tournament since fracturing his eye socket in a crash that killed his driver following victory in the Malaysia Masters in January 2020.
Momota became the first Japanese player to win the All England Open when he did so in 2019.
Meanwhile Indonesia's sports minister has questioned the fairness of the exclusion of the country's badminton team from the tournament and called on the national governing body to pursue the matter with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The Indonesia team were "withdrawn" from the prestigious tournament after they had been instructed by British health authorities to isolate for 10 days because a passenger on their flight to England tested positive for Covid-19, the BWF said on Wednesday.
"I lament what happened to the Indonesian badminton team," minister Zainudin Amali said in a streamed conference yesterday. "It wasn't their fault, but they're bearing the brunt."
Zainudin told reporters he understood that a player of a different nationality on the same flight was still in the tournament, which started behind closed doors in Birmingham on Wednesday.
"I urge the association to take measures so that we don't get treated this way," the minister added.
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, who won the All England Open men's doubles titles with Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in 2017 and 2018, said the Indonesian players had all tested negative upon arrival in England.
"BWF has failed to organise this matter," he said in an Instagram post.
"If there are strict rules for entering Britain due to Covid, BWF should have put in place a bubble system that guarantees our safety."