The Chinese player, who reached the final of the recent All England Open, dropped the first game and appeared to be on the brink of an early exit before he rallied to claim a 16-21, 21-15, 21-16 triumph.

The 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games gold medallist will take on defending champion Prannoy Kumar of India, who is seeded fifth, in the quarter-finals.

Kumar also had to work hard for his place in the last eight as he also needed three games to get past Qiao Bin of China 9-21, 23-21, 21-15.

Shi's compatriot Lin Dan had no such worries as he comfortably progressed to the quarter-finals.

Double Olympic champion Lin, who is bidding to bounce back from his All England Open disappointment, where he lost to Shi in the semi-finals, cruised to a 21-7, 21-14 victory over Frenchman Brice Leverdez.

Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia awaits for the Chinese player in the next round.

Dutchman Mark Caljouw, who knocked out seventh seed Huang Yuxiang of China yesterday, was not able to progress any further as he was beaten by Denmark's 16th seed Emil Holst.

Holst claimed a 21-16, 21-15 win to set up a meeting with Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.

In the women's singles event, Chen Yufei, the third seed, joined her male counterparts in reaching the last eight as she overcame home favourite Sabrina Jaquet 21-16, 21-16.

Her opponent in the quarter-finals will be Japan's Sayaka Takahashi, who beat Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia 21-16, 21-10.

Sixth seed Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria also booked her place in the next round as she ousted Russia's Natalia Perminova in straight games 21-14, 21-19.

Zetchiri, a European Championships bronze medallist, will face unseeded Japanese Chisato Hoshi in the quarter-finals tomorrow.