The Thai fourth seed, who took gold last year in Guangzhou, was outplayed by the former French Open winner and 16th seed 8-21, 21-12, 21-18 at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen.

However, the result is hardly surprising as Intanon had battled with an illness that saw her hospitalised for five days just before travelling to Denmark.

She took the defeat gracefully.

"I didn't think about defending the title," Intanon said.

"I just came here to give my all and do my best."

Mitani, who admitted that Intanon was one of her "targets to beat", will now face South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun, who defeated Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri 21-10, 21-16 to go through.

An injury saw the exit of Jan Ø Jørgensen from the 2014 Badminton World Championships on his home turf ©Getty Images


There was another win for Chinese Olympic champion Li Xuerui as she overcame her compatriot Han Li 21-9, 21-17.

She will now take on India's Saina Nehwal, who took down Sayaka Takahashi of Japan 14-21, 21-18, 21-12.

Another Chinese powerhouse, Wang Shixian, also went through with a 21-12, 21-7 victory over Vietnam's Vu Thi Trang, but a match against Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei signalled the end of the road for Canadian Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Michelle Li as she lost 21-16, 21-11.

The men's singles saw contest Eric Pang of The Netherlands progress to the quarterfinals after he defeated Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 19-21, 21-18, 21-16.

Home star Viktor Axelsen also went through after taking out Vietnam's Nguyễn Tiến Minh 21-16, 21-17.

However, it was not such a fortunate day for Jan Ø Jørgensen, another home athlete, whose World Championships campaign ended when an injury saw him abandoning his match against Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei in the middle of the second set to finish the game 21-9, 9-4 down.

"Right now I just want to go home," admitted a devastated Jørgensen.

"It is not my whole world that has fallen apart, but it's a big part of me."

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