Top seed and home favourite Chen Yufei crashed out of the BWF China Masters today ©Getty Images

Top seed and home favourite Chen Yufei crashed out of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) China Masters today after losing her women's singles quarter-final against Japan’s Saena Kawakami at the Olympic Sports Center in Changzhou.

The 19-year-old fell to a 21-19, 20-22, 18-21 defeat against her fifth-seeded opponent, whose reward is a last-four encounter with Chen’s compatriot Cai Yanyan.

Cai beat fellow Chinese Li Wenmei 21-17, 16-21, 27-25 to reach the penultimate round.

Defeat for Chen opens the door for second seed Aya Ohori, who booked her place in the semi-finals with a 21-15, 22-20 win over China’s Zhang Yiman.

Standing between her and a place in the final is another Chinese competitor, eighth seed Gao Fangjie.

Gao overcame countrywoman Han Yue 21-13, 21-11.

Men's singles top seed Lin Dan is through to the semi-finals ©Getty Images
Men's singles top seed Lin Dan is through to the semi-finals ©Getty Images

There were no surprises in the men’s singles draw as the top four seeds, all of which are Chinese, secured their places in the semi-finals.

Top seed Lin Dan, the two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, beat Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-14, 21-17 and will now go onto face third seed Qiao Bin, who defeated Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-16, 22-20.

Second seed Tian Houwei registered a 21-10, 21-11 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Hsueh Hsuan Yi, setting up a clash with fourth seed Huang Yuxiang, who beat compatriot Sun Feixiang 21-11, 21-18.

Action in Changzhou is due to continue tomorrow.