Ratchanok Intanon and Tai Tzu-ying will square off in the women's singles quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur today.
It will be a rematch of last year's title decider, won by the eighth-ranked Thai in a three-game thriller, with the winner advancing to the last four of the BWF World Tour Super 500 event at Axiata Arena.
Sixth seed Ratchanok defeated Chloe Birch of England 21-12, 21-10, while top seed Tai was forced to dig deep before overcoming Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 19-21, 21-12, 21-10 in the last 16 round yesterday.
The other quarter-final match-up will see local hope Goh Jin Wei take on fifth seed He Bingjiao of China.
Fourth seed Carolina Marin of Spain, who knocked out Thai star Nitchaon Jindapol on Wednesday, will meet No.8 seed Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea while second seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan will face seventh seed Saina Nehwal of India in the bottom half of the draw.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai are the only other Thai players left in the US$350,000 (approximately 11.2 million baht) tournament.
The second seeded Thai pair scraped past Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich of Germany 21-9, 19-21, 21-15 in the second round of the mixed doubles event yesterday.
They will meet Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in the last eight today.
All the other Thais bowed out yesterday.
Kantaphon Wangcharoen and Suppanyu Avihingsanon bowed out in the men's singles, men's doubles stars Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol also exited.
Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree, who won the women's doubles crown at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters on Sunday, and mixed doubles pair of Nipitphon Phuangphuapet and Savitree Amitrapai also crashed out.
Korean Son Wan-Ho, who beat Kantaphon, and China's Shi Yuqi, who defeated Suppanyu, were joined in the last eight by China's Chen Long, Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, India's Srikanth Kidambi, Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Malaysians Lee Zii Jia and Daren Liew.