Number one seed Soniia Cheah of Malaysia secured her place in the penultimate round with an 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 victory over Japan’s Shiori Saito at the Sport Hall Olympic.

Next up for her is third-seeded Russian Natalia Perminova, who beat India’s Vrushali Gummadi 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 11-9.

The other semi-final pits second seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia against fourth seed Natsuki Nidaira of Japan.

Kosetskaya defeated compatriot Victoria Slobodyanyuk 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, while Nidaira overcame India’s Rasika Raje 11-2, 11-4, 11-7.

In the men’s competition, Russia’s Vladimir Malkov kept himself on course for success with an 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3 win over India’s Anand Pawar.

Second seed Malkov, the favourite for the men’s title following the withdrawal of top seeded-Indian Sourabh Verma, will face Rahul Yadav Chittaboina for a place in the final.

Chittaboina, also of India, beat England’s Wang Yuehang 13-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Fifth seed Sergey Sirant is also through to the last four after defeating fellow Russian Anatoliy Yartsev 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5.

Standing between him and the final is unseeded Japanese Ryotaro Maruo, who overcame fellow countryman Haruki Fukuda 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7. 

Action in Vladivostok is due to continue tomorrow.

US Open action continued today at the Anaheim Convention Center, where top seed and home favourite Beiwen Zhang suffered women's singles quarter-final elimination after losing 18-21, 26-24, 19-21 to fifth seed Jang Mi Lee of South Korea.

Awaiting Lee in the semi-final is third-seeded Japanese Aya Ohori, who beat Denmark's Natalia Koch Rohde 21-15, 21-13.

India's Prannoy Kumar, the favourite for the men's singles crown following the exit of top seed Lee Hyun-il of South Korea on Wednesday (July 19), is through to the semi-finals thanks to a 10-21, 21-15, 21-18 win over Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama.