Lee Zii Jia cruised into his third semi-finals of the season after a clinical victory over Kanta Tsuneyama in his maiden appearance at the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday.

Despite only meeting once before, it looked like Lee had figured out the Japanese in the first few minutes as he dominated from start to finish and cruise to a 21-13 win in the first game.

Tsuneyama was at times forced into desperate defending as Lee sprayed his shots in all directions, eventually finishing off the opening game with a delicate touch at the net.

Lee produced a moment of magic approaching mid second game, completely missing a front court kill before recovering at last second with a deft flick that caught Tsuneyama off guard.

That point meant steady march to 11-6, which Lee finished off with a flurry of smashes his despondent opponent could only watch in despair.

Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin joined him in the last four after they beat Chinese pair Ren Xiang Yu-Tan Qiang 21-19, 21-14 in just over half an hour.

They meet Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in an all-Malaysian men's doubles clash, after the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists beat Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 12-21, 21-14, 21-16.

Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Man Wei Chong-Kai Wun Tee and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah meanwhile saw their challenge end on Friday.

Tan-Lai succumbed to a tame 18-21, 5-21 to second seeds Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino, Man-Kai lost 16-21, 16-21 to Fajar Alfian-Rian Ardianto and Pearly-Thinaah fell 21-14, 19-21, 16-21 against Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota.