Thailand's eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon stunned top-ranked Akane Yamaguchi to reach the semi-finals of the US$1.25 million BWF Indonesia Open in Jakarta yesterday.
The 28-year-old Thai rallied to beat the Japanese 18-21, 25-23, 21-16 in one hour and 13 minutes in the World Tour Super 1000 event.
Ratchanok and her 26-year-old opponent are now 11-11 in their head-to-head meetings.
The 2013 world champion is seeking her first title of the year with her last win coming at the 2022 Malaysia Open in July.
In the women's singles semi-finals today, Ratchanok faces sixth seed Carolina Marin of Spain who defeated third seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan 21-18, 21-13 in the quarter-finals.
It's been over two years since Marin and Tai last faced each other.
That was in January 2021, when they made three finals in three successive weeks in Bangkok.
When they faced off again yesterday, Marin's speed and consistency won out in the end.
"It was really important to play at high pace because she's so good in deception," said the Spaniard, who made her first Super 1000 semi-final of the year.
In the other semi-final, second seed An Se-Young from South Korea takes on fourth seed Chen Yufei of China.
An finished off Chinese fifth seed He Bingjiao 21-18, 19-21, 21-11, while Olympic champion Chen defeated South Korea's Kim Ga-Eun 21-11, 21-19.
All England winner An, 21, is the hottest player at the moment as she is chasing her third consecutive title after her wins in Thailand and Singapore.
She has also won at the India Open and Indonesia Masters this year.
In the mixed doubles, Thailand's third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai lost to Chinese sixth seeds Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping 13-21, 21-13, 21-12.