Women's singles defending champion Nozomi Okuhara, from Japan, was also beaten on a dramatic day of quarter-finals at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre.

Defending men's singles gold medal winner Axelsen was beaten 21-19, 21-11 by China's Olympic champion Chen Long. 

Chen had to settle for the bronze medal last year after losing to Axelsen in the semi-finals but will now seek to add to his 2014 and 2015 successes.

"I stuck with my tactics no matter how my opponent was doing - taking a lead or falling behind," the winner said. 

"I firmly believed that I could go all out to win this match."

Chen is now scheduled to face Shi Yuqi, who narrowly beat Chinese Tapei rival Chou Tien Cheng 16-21, 21-15, 21-18 today, in an all-Chinese semi-final.

Malaysia's Darin Liew, who trains independently of the national team, continued his winning run by beating Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 22-20, 21-23, 22-20, after squandering three match points in the second game.

He is now set to face another Japanese opponent, Kento Momota, after he beat Sai Praneeth of India 21-12, 21-12.

Tai lost just her second contest in 37 matches following an epic clash with He Bingjiao of China in the women's draw.

He triumphed 21-18, 7-21, 21-13.

It marked a fourth straight quarter-finals loss for Tai at the World Championships.

India's Pusarla Sindhu beat Okuhara in a repeat of last year's final, albeit with a different result, as Sindhu eased home 21-17, 21-19 in under an hour.

Third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan lies in wait in the semi-finals after a 21-13, 17-21, 21-16 win over Chen Yufei of China. 

He is now set to face Spain's two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin, who thrashed Saina Nehwal of India, 21-6, 21-11.