BASEL, Switzerland, Aug. 23 -- Fourth seed Chen Yufei scored nine points in a row in the deciding set to beat Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark to enter the women's singles semifinals of the Badminton World Championships here on Friday.
Chen, who finished third in the 2017 worlds, was 15-12 behind in the third set after she had won the first 21-17 but lost the second 18-21.
With He Bingjiao already beaten by Japan's third seed Nozomi Okuhara, China would have no representative in the women's last four if Chen lost. That humiliation happened only once since 1983 in 2017.
And a miracle was created by the 21-year-old, who scored nine points without reply and secured the victory 21-15.
"She is a very strong player," Chen said. "She beat me last year in the Uber Cup. If she is in good form, she can beat anybody."
"I didnot think of the result. I just focused on my own game and try to win every point. She made many mistakes at the crucial moment."
Blichfeldt, 22, who won the gold medal at the European Games in June, said, "I wanted to win the match and started to play aggressively. I changed my game plan. That was too bad."
Chen will next face fifth seed Sinduhu V. Pusarla of India, who won the silver medal at the last two world championships and the Rio Olympic Games.