Ratchanok Intanon bowed out in the quarter-finals after a narrow defeat to Tomoka Miyazaki at the US$420,000 BWF Hong Kong Open on Friday.
In her first quarter-final appearance at a World Tour Super 500 event since the Indonesia Masters in January, Ratchanok found her 27th-ranked opponent too much to handle as the Japanese youngster progressed to the semi-finals with a 21-18, 17-21, 22-20 victory.
The 18-year-old Miyazaki is now through to her first Super 500 semi-final, where she will play either Putri Kusuma Wardini of Indonesia or Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark.
Busanan Ongbamrungphan and Pornpawee Chochuwong were to face off in an all-Thai quarter-final clash later Friday.
China's Han Yue was to play Japan's Aya Ohori in the other quarter-final.
In the men's singles quarter-finals, third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia battled past fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-16, 12-21, 21-15 to become the first player to make the last four.
He will face the winner of the match between Lei Lanxi of China or Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
Women's doubles top seeds Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-Hee of South Korea booked their semi-final berth after defeating fellow Koreans Lee Yu-Lim and Shin Seung-Chan 21-8, 21-18.
Korean fourth seeds Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong also advanced to the final four with a 21-19, 21-15 win over China's Li Wenmei and Zhang Shuxian.
Kang Min-Hyuk and Seo Seung-Jae became the third Korean pair in the last four after the third seeds beat Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia 21-18, 21-17 to reach the men's doubles semi-finals.