Crowd favourites Loh Kean Yew, Yeo Jia Min overcome tough opponents to progress at Singapore Open
SINGAPORE: Drawn against tough opponents, Singapore's top badminton players held their nerve on Tuesday (May 27) to progress to the Singapore Badminton Open round of 16.
Women's singles world number 11 Yeo Jia Min saw off world number 12 Busanan Ongbamrungphan, while world ranked 10 Loh Kean Yew eliminated tournament eighth seed Alex Lanier in a 60-minute contest.
Up against newly minted European champion Lanier, Loh struggled to find momentum amid a number of unforced errors early on. While he summoned a superb late flurry of points to tie things up at 20-20, it was Lanier who held his nerve to take the first 23-21.
Lanier, who is ranked one spot higher than Loh in the world rankings, also beat the Singaporean in their only meeting at the 2024 Denmark Open.
But Loh would not be denied and took a four-point lead against the 20-year-old into the break.
The change of ends seemed to cause some problems for the Frenchman, and his more experienced opponent saw out the next 21-17.
Loh looked to have found a second wind in the decider as a more aggressive approach netted him a 9-2 lead. A number of unforced errors from the Singaporean would reduce arrears, but Loh would see things off 21-11.
"We were training together for the past week, and even before that we'd trained together before, and we kind of know each other's game. Overall, it was still a tough match," said Loh of his opponent.
"At the start (of the third game), I tried to stay even more focused. I think he lost a bit of focus and eventually, maybe he lost the confidence."
The former world champion will next face another Frenchman, world number 16 Toma Popov, on Wednesday.
Yeo booked her place in the round of 16 with a 21-14, 21-13 win over Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
Despite facing an opponent who had caused her problems in the past, the world number 11 showed good composure despite trailing early in both games.
Yeo, who had a 3-3 head-to-head record against Busanan, would trail 10-11 in the interval of the first game. But urged on by a partisan crowd, she dug deep to pull away.
It was Busanan once again with the early initiative in the second, but Yeo would be denied, going in front 9-8 and seeing the match out.
She will next face South Korea's world number one and defending champion An Se Young. An is also the reigning Olympic champion and has an 8-2 winning record against Yeo.
"(In) the first round, you kind of need to get rid of your nerves. I'm happy I could keep the focus mostly throughout the match and keep the pressure on her," said Yeo, who is playing through the pain of old injuries.
The first Singaporean to take the court on Tuesday was world number 24 Jason Teh, who had the toughest assignment in the form of world number one Shi Yu Qi.
Teh had faced Shi on one previous occasion in 2023, with the latter winning in straight games. But this 46-minute contest would be a tougher one.
While the Singaporean trailed 2-7 early on, he caused Shi a couple of problems before going down fighting 16-21.
After the change of sides, Teh continued to build momentum and went into the interval with a three-point lead.
But Shi showed his mettle to turn a 9-13 deficit to level at 15-15. He wrestled control of the lead at 17-16 as his 24-year-old opponent hit a forehand drop shot into the net and took the second game 21-16.
"In terms of fighting spirit and my attitude on court, I feel like I've already given my all," said Teh.
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