Zhang, the winner of world single titles in 2011 and 2013 as well as the London 2012 Olympic crown, has competed sparsely since claiming silver at Rio 2016.

Hopes that he was back to his best form today were quelled by an inspired opponent who never allowed him a foothold in the match.

Lee, seeded 17th in comparison with an opponent rated fourth, started brightly to take a 2-0 lead.

Zhang, as the Chinese players often do, fought back to win the third and it seemed as if the initiative was changing.

But Lee ripped up the rulebook to win the fourth and then recovered from 10-8 down to seal the victory.

A long serve into his opponent's backhand wing proved effective time and time again as Zhang, hindered by uncharacteristically slow footwork, proved unable to utilise his usually destructive forehand. 

“Zhang Jike’s level has dropped lately, but I still had to play very well to win," said a delighted Lee.

"If I played my best I knew I had a chance."

Zhang was magnanimous in defeat.

“My opponent was very aggressive while I was a bit slow and my mental game was not very good," he said.

There are now no Chinese players left in the third quarter of the draw, meaning that another country is guaranteed to gain a podium place for the first time since Timo Boll beat Chen Qi of China on the way to a German bronze in 2011. 

No non-Chinese player has won either the men's or women's singles titles since Austrian Werner Schlager triumphed in 2003.

History was also made for Japan today as Miu Hirano reached the women's singles semi-finals after a 4-0 win over Singapore's fourth seed Feng Tianwei.

It guaranteed the country a first podium finish in the event since Toshiko Kowada took gold in 1969.

“I did not know that it has been so long that Japan had won a medal, I am a bit surprised," she admitted. 

"I am happy to have this record, and that this will be in the history books.”

Hirano beat three members of the Chinese team to win gold at April's Asian Championships in Wuxi, including the Olympic and defending world champion Ding Ning.

Ding lies in wait again the semi-final tomorrow after a 4-1 win over Japan's Kasumi Ishikawi today.

Liu Shiwen, silver medallist in the last two World Championships, beat unseeded Mu Zi 4-1 today in one of two all-Chinese quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw.

She will now face third seed Zhu Yuling, who was stretched to six sets in a 4-2 victory over Chen Meng. 

Defending champion and top seed Ma Long dropped just one set in a 4-1 win over Ovidiu Ionescu of Romania as China dominated elsewhere in the men's singles draw.

Second seeded Fan Zhendong cruised past Alexander Shibaev of Russia 4-0, third ranked Xu Xin beat Hugo Calderano of Brazil 4-1 and 33rd seed Lin Gaoyuan defeated India's Sharath Kamal Achanta, 4-2.

German number one and fifth seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov was forced to recover from 2-3 down before beating another Romanian in Hunor Szocs, 4-3.

Ovtcharov was joined in the last 16 by two other home players in Timo Boll, a 4-1 winner over South Korea's Jang Woojin, and defender Ruwen Filus, who beat Hong Kong's Ng Pak-nam 4-1.

Thirteen-year-old Japanese sensation Tomokazu Harimoto also continued his remarkable run by winning 4-0 against Liao Cheng-ting of Taiwan.

Eight Asian pairs made it through to the semi-finals in the respective men and women's doubles draws earlier today.

In the men's event, Fan and Xu of China were forced to dig deep from 1-4 down in the final set before winning 4-3 over Wong Chun Ting and Ho Kwan Kit of Hong Kong.

Koki Niwa and Mahuru Yoshimura lie in wait after the Japanese duo defeated Vladimir Samsonov and Pavel Platonov of Belarus 4-0.

An all-Japanese final remains a possibility as top seeds Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima beat Taiwan's Chen Chien-An and Liao Cheng-ting 4-1.

They will next face Joung Young-sik and man-of-the-moment Lee Sang-su as the South Koreans won 4-1 over Shibaev and fellow Russian Kirill Skachkov.

Teenagers Mima Ito and Hina Hayata beat Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching 4-0 in the women's doubles to set-up a semi-final with China's Ding and Liu, 4-0 winners today over Indians Manika Batra and Mouma Das.

Chen and Zhu also teamed up before their later singles battle to beat Chinese-born Wu Yue and American team-mate Lily Zhang 4-1 to set up a last-four clash with Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu.

The Singapore duo triumphed 4-1 over Chen Szu-yu and Cheng I-ching of Taiwan.

Medals will be awarded for the first time here this week tomorrow as the mixed doubles competition concludes.