Back-to-back champion Ratchanok Intanon was knocked out in round two ©Getty Images

Ratchanok Intanon's hopes of winning the women's title for the third year in a row at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Malaysia Masters are over, after the Thai fifth seed was knocked out in the second round by Chinese teenager Wang Zhiyi.

The 19-year-old came from behind at Kuala Lumpur's Axiata Arena to dethrone the 2018 and 2019 winner and confirm her status as one of the sport's emerging talents.

This is the first time Wang, a silver medallist at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, has played a tournament at this level, but she can now look forward to the quarter-finals.

She had to come from behind to beat the 2013 world champion, 19-21, 21-11, 22-20.

"This is my first time at a Super 500 event and I'm excited as I get to play with players ranked higher than me," Wang said. 

"I look forward to playing with them, it doesn't matter if I win or lose."

Wang will now meet second-seeded compatriot Chen Yufei in the last eight, after the World Tour Finals champion knocked out another Thai, Nitchaon Jindapol, 21-12, 21-13.

Chinese Taipei's top seed Tai Tzu-ying is also through, but faced a tough examination from South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun before a 21-18, 16-21, 21-10 success.

Her reward is a clash with India's reigning world champion PV Sindhu, with the sixth seed beating Aya Ohori of Japan 21-10, 21-15.

Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong beat number two men's player Chou Tien-chen ©Getty Images
Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong beat number two men's player Chou Tien-chen ©Getty Images

Others to advance were third seed Nozomi Okuhara, the 2017 world champion who won an all-Japanese clash with Sayaka Takahashi, 21-14, 21-19.

Spain's Olympic champion Carolina Marin, who is unseeded after eight months out with injury, beat China's Cai Yanyan 21-16, 21-18.

The tournament is the opening event of the 2020 BWF World Tour season.

In the men's draw, the big second-round casualty was Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien-chen who was dumped out 23-21, 21-17 by Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long.

Top seed and back-to-back world champion Kento Momota had no issues, as the Japanese player won 21-14, 21-16 against India's Prannoy Kumar.

China's Olympic champion and fourth seed Chen Long knocked out Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-18, 21-13 and Denmark's 2017 world champion and fifth seed Viktor Axelsen saw off Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-6, 21-17.

Malaysia's unseeded home hero Lee Zii Jia, who knocked out Denmark's third seed Anders Antonsen yesterday, continued his progression with a 21-19, 22-20 win over India's Sameer Verma.

The quarter-finals are tomorrow.