BASEL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan was shocked by Singapore's world No. 32 Yeo Jia Min in the women's second round at the World Championships here on Tuesday.
Yamaguchi, who won the bronze in last year's edition, slumped to a 21-14, 21-18 defeat to the 20-year-old Yeo in just 40 minutes.
"I could not get into my rhythm," she said. "I was surprised by the opponent and got lured into her style of playing.
"Also, I was playing the shuttle into areas where my opponent wanted it, instead of into difficult areas. Those are the main reasons for my loss."
The 22-year-old admitted that a recent hip injury had affected her training for the World Championships.
"I was not in peak condition and I did not reach some parts of the court as fast as I usually do.
"I didn't play fast enough and my smashes weren't effective enough. In the second game, I tried to play faster and to improve my tactics but clearly it wasn't enough to win."
But she vowed to fight on and will try to "improve for the next tournaments rather than reflecting on this loss."
A jubilant Yeo sank to her knees and yelled to celebrate the biggest victory in her career.
"From the start, I tried to focus on every point and not to make simple errors like I used to do and I tried to control my emotions," the 20-year-old said.
"I try to learn and improve from every match. This result will give me more motivation.
"My goal was to beat a seeded player because I knew I would face one quite early in the tournament. I'm happy but I still need to concentrate because every day is new."
