Kasumi Ishikawa, Japan's top-ranked player, made a quarterfinal exit in the women's singles at the season-ending ITTF World Tour Grand Finals on Friday.
Fifth-ranked Ishikawa lost 4-2 to 17th-ranked Gu Yuting of China in the quarterfinal.
"I was on the defensive — I didn't play aggressively by taking risks," said Ishikawa. "The match itself wasn't too bad."
Gu, who will face Chinese No. 2 Chen Meng in the semifinal, eliminated world bronze medalist Miu Hirano on Thursday.
In the men's singles, Tomokazu Harimoto swept past Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan 4-0 in the first round to set up a meeting with Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who defeated Koki Niwa in his first match at the meet.
Women's pair Mima Ito and Hina Hayata advanced to the final, while Hitomi Sato and Honoka Hashimoto were defeated in the semifinals.
In the men's doubles, world silver medalists Yuya Oshima and Masataka Morizono also booked spots in the final after beating Taiwan's Chen Chien-an and Chiang Hung-chieh.