Lin came through 21-16, 21-17 against an opponent who has won this tournament – the world’s oldest in badminton – four times.

Lin will now face either Huang Yuxiang or HS Prannoy in tomorrow’s semi-final at Arena Birmingham.

There was an equally-intense match in the women’s singles as India's PV Sindhu beat Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 20-22, 21-18, 21-18 in a repeat of the 2017 World Championship final won by the latter.

The 22-year-old from Hyderabad staged a third-set comeback to overhaul Okuhara, coming back from 16-12 down to earn a semi-final meeting with Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

"It’s been a good match and she also played really well," said Sindhu.

"It was anybody’s game until the last point so I’m happy I took this match.

"I was trailing 16-12 and then I came back and won so I’m very happy with that.

"I think every time we play each other they are good matches, it’s been ten times we’ve played and this the 11th time, we’ve won five times each and today I won so she is playing a brilliant game."

Elsewhere, top-seeded men’s doubles pairing Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo delivered an excellent performance to beat Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin 21-15 21-13 in a 29-minute match.

The Chinese Taipei pairing led at 11-10 in the first game but then Gideon and Sukamuljo’s experience told, with the second game a superb display of their abilities.

"The crowd really supported us today, there are a lot of Indonesian fans here and we really enjoyed it," said Gideon.

"It means a lot to us to be here because this is the oldest tournament in badminton and so historical, that’s why we want to keep winning here."

Seventh-seed men's singles player Shi Yuqi came out on top against fellow Chinese player Chen Long, winning by a scoreline of 21-10 21-17 against the reigning Olympic gold medallist.

Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara won the all-Japanese women’s doubles tie against Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 21-17, 25-23.