Carolina Marin reached the women's singles final of the Badminton World Championships in Nanjing ©Getty Images

Spain's Carolina Marin moved one win away from a third Badminton World Federation World Championship title after she set up a women's singles final with Pusarla V. Sindhu of India today in Nanjing.

Marin clinched world titles in 2014 and 2015 and won Olympic gold the following year in Rio de Janeiro before a surprise quarter-final loss at last year's showpiece event in Glasgow. 

She lost the first set of her semi-final today against He Bingjiao of China before bouncing back to triumph 13-21, 21-16, 21-13 at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre.

Sindhu made the final for the second successive year as the third seed beat second seeded Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-16, 24-22.

An Indian woman has ever won a singles world title but the country has now been represented in the last three finals after Saina Nehwal also lost to Marin in 2015.

There was an apparent changing of the guard in the men's singles today when 22-year-old China's Shi Yuqi beat Olympic champion team-mate Chen Long 21-11, 21-17.

Shi won the All England Open in March but victory in the final would mark another major step up.

China's Shi Yuqi beat team-mate and Olympic champion Chen Long in the men's singles ©Getty Images
China's Shi Yuqi beat team-mate and Olympic champion Chen Long in the men's singles ©Getty Images

Japanese favourite Kento Momota now stands in his way after ending the run of unseeded Malaysian Liew Daren with a 21-16, 21-5 thrashing in the other semi-final.

Momota has shot up the rankings this year following his return from a suspension awarded by the Japan Badminton Association in 2016 after being caught gambling in an illegal casino.

The only number one seeds to make the final across the five events were Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China in the mixed doubles.

They beat team-mates Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui 19-21, 21-12, 21-10 to set up a final with another Chinese pair, second seeds Wang Yulhu and Huang Dongping, after they enjoyed a 21-6, 21-10 win over Hong Kong's Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet.

There will be an all-Japanese final tomorrow in the women's doubles.

Second seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota beat team-mates Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-19, 21-15 and Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara prevailed 21-12, 23-21 over Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rehayu of Indonesia. 

Japan enjoyed more success in the men's doubles when Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonodo beat Chinese Taipei's Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 21-17, 21-10.

Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen beat Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan 21-15, 21-13 in an all-Chinese second semi-final.