Sun, who started the day by beating China's He Zhuojia 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-4 in the round of 16, lost 11-13, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11 to the event debutant at Zhengzhou Olympic Sports Center.

Wang's reward for her hugely impressive win is a last-four encounter with fourth-seeded compatriot Wang Manyu, who defeated another Chinese player, Chen Xingtong, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4.

Tomorrow's other semi-final pits second seed Mima Ito of Japan against third seed Chen Meng of China.

Ito overcame compatriot Hitomi Sato 11-7, 11-7, 13-11, 11-5, while Chen, the two-time defending champion, survived a scare to down fellow Chinese Liu Shiwen 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-1.

Earlier in the day in the round of 16, Ito beat Chinese Taipei's Cheng I-Ching 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-3, 12-10, and Chen came from 3-1 down to claim an 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 12-14, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6 victory over China's Qian Tianyi.

In the men's singles, two of the four semi-finalists have been determined, with China's Lin Gaoyuan and Xu Xin, a two-time champion, advancing on opposite sides of the draw.

Third seed Lin defeated Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-Ju 13-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7, having overcome Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov 13-11, 11-9, 11-8, 4-11, 8-11, 11-4 in the round of 16.

Top seed Xu, meanwhile, ousted defending champion Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan after a seven-game thriller that ended 11-6, 13-15, 11-5, 3-11, 9-11, 13-11, 13-11 in his favour.

Today saw two other players progress to the quarter-finals, which will conclude tomorrow prior to the semi-finals being held.

Fourth seed Ma Long, a five-time champion, beat South Korea's Jeoung Young-sik 8-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-2, 11-7, 11-3 to set up a meeting with fellow Chinese Liang Jingkun.

Brazil's Hugo Calderano will face second seed Fan Zhendong for a place in the penultimate round following an 11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6 win at the expense of two-time champion Jun Mizutani of Japan.