SINGAPORE: Loh Kean Yew qualified for his first KFF Singapore Badminton Open final after beating Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the men’s singles semi-finals on Saturday (May 30).At the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the world No 14 and crowd favourite took the win 21-15, 15-21, 21-9. This is his third career victory over his world number 19 opponent in six meetings.The 28-year-old will next face France’s Alex Lanier in Sunday’s final. Lanier, ranked ninth in the world, beat Indonesia's Alwi Farhan 21-14, 21-11.Loh has won one of his last three career meetings against Lanier, with his sole victory at last year's Singapore Open.
The Singaporean took some time to get going in his quarter-final clash with Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu-jen, but showed no signs of rust as he raced to a 11-6 interval lead against Watanabe.But his Japanese opponent was not out of it as he narrowed the deficit to just three points at 14-11. But a successful challenge for Loh at 16-12, and a smash off the net cord late on would set him on his way to take the first game in 20 minutes.Things were closer at the start of the second game, and Loh had to come back from 7-9 down to lead 11-9 at the break. Watanabe, however, mounted a comeback, taking the lead at 14-13 and not looking back.Down 0-3 in the decider, Loh showcased immense mental strength as he stormed back to a 11-5 interval lead. He would then see off the contest to the delight of the partisan home crowd.Prior to Saturday, Loh’s best finish at his home tournament was a last-four appearance in 2022 where he lost to Anthony Ginting.Loh had to dig deep to book his semi-final spot this edition.He eked out wins over India’s Srikanth Kidambi and then H S Prannoy in the round-of-16, before beating Chi. All three matches went to a decider.The former world champion is Singapore’s sole representative in the tournament after first-round exits for Jason Teh, Yeo Jia Min and the men’s doubles pair of Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo.
