Birmingham: Denmark’s Camilla Martin, playing in her last world badminton championships, bowed out in the quarter finals on Friday after being beaten 6-11, 0-11 by her old rival Zhang Ning of China.

The seventh-seeded Dane, 29, who is to retire after next year’s Olympics, said: “She played really well. I don’t think I did anything wrong but when she plays like that she is almost impossible to beat. I think she will win the tournament.”

Zhang, Swiss Open winner in February and beaten finalist in last year’s China Open, is the highest seed left in the women’s singles after top seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong lost to fifth seed Zhou Mi of China 11-6, 5-11, 11-4.