King, who at five foot, seven inches tall is one of the tallest women on the tour, had beaten Serme at this year's US Open.

However she was unable to repeat her exploits at the Central Convention Complex as the French athlete dominated from the start, eventually taking the match 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 in just 29 minutes.

Serme was exceptional from the start, racing into a 5-1 lead in the first game before securing it 11-4.

This gave King, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, little chance of coming back and Serme managed to come through the second game with similar ease, winning it 11-6.

The final game saw 28-year-old Serme once again create a five-point gap over her opponent early on.

Despite having made it through to her third World Championship semi-final appearance, Serme insists she is not getting ahead of herself.

"I'm not thinking about winning it yet - I was just so focused on that one," she said.

"I knew it was going to be a tough battle.

"Although it was 3-0, it was a hard match.

"Mentally and physically, the rallies were pretty quick and the pace was fast.

"I'm just relieved after this win.

"Last time we played at the US Open, I was really nervous and today that was the plan – to focus on what to do on the court.

"It was clearer what I had to do than last time.

"I was happy to just focus and forget it's a World Championship." 



In today's other quarter-final in the women’s draw, second seed Egyptian Raneem El Welily defeated two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist Nicol David of Malaysia 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6.

This means El Welily will face Serme in the second of tomorrow's women's semi-finals.

The first will see a clash between two Egyptians as tournament favourite Nour El Sherbini faces Nour El Tayeb.

In the men’s draw, fourth seed Ali Farag of Egypt had a much tougher day than Serme as he needed four games and 52 minutes to beat unseeded Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez.

Thirty-one-year-old Rodriguez, who was the first South American player to enter the world's top ten, performed superbly in the first game, offering stern resistance to everything Farag threw at him and eventually winning the game 11-5.

However, 2017 US Open champion Farag fought back, putting his Colombian opponent under sustained pressure, which he could not endure.

The Egyptian demonstrated an excellent mixture of aggressive drives and tight drop shots to win the next three games and take the match, putting him in his first ever World Championship semi-final.

After the match, 25-year-old Farag complimented his opponent’s valiant effort and also praised his coach for helping him get back into the match.

"Miguel started off firing in the first, he was much more aggressive than I am in the back corners, consistently in front of me and dominating the centre of the court throughout the entire first game," he said.

"Thankfully, in my corner, I had the former world number one [Karim Darwish], my coach, who knows what to say at the right times.

"I said to him 'I’m a bit nervous, what should I do?' and he told me that I didn't have to go for attacking shots at the front of the court, just be aggressive at the back of the court.

“It was toe-to-toe throughout the second game and after I won that one, I gained a lot of confidence.

"All credit to Miguel, he didn’t make it easy until the very last minute, but I’m very happy to be in the semi-finals for the first time along with my wife [Nour El Tayeb, who made it through yesterday], so hopefully we both keep progressing."

Farag will now face compatriot Marwan Elshorbagy in tomorrow’s semi-final after he beat fellow Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad, the defending world champion whose reign is now at an end. 

Sixth seed Elshorbagy put in a stunning display to defeat second seed Abdel Gawad in straight games, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9, in just 42 minutes.

The other semi-final sees number one seed Gregory Gaultier of France face Mohamed Elshorbagy, who both came through their quarter-finals yesterday.