SINGAPORE – National shuttler Loh Kean Yew claimed another big scalp when the world No. 39 beat Chinese Taipei’s world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-13 in 37 minutes in the opening round of the BWF World Tour Super 500 Hylo Open on Thursday (Nov 4).
The 24-year-old will play France’s world No. 35 Toma Junior Popov in the round of 16 of the US$320,000 (S$431,000) tournament in Saarbrücken, Germany later in the day.
This is the second time Loh has beaten Chou in three meetings. He lost 21-13, 18-21, 21-17 at the 2019 BWF World Championships, but avenged that defeat with a 21-16, 21-17 victory at the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships.
In yesterday’s contest, Loh established early dominance and valiantly fought back from 10-5 down in the second game to win the match.
Last week, he had beaten Malaysia’s world No. 8 and All-England champion Lee Zii Jia to reach the second round of the French Open.
Meanwhile in the women’s singles, Singapore’s top female player Yeo Jia Min will play Indonesia’s world No. 23 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung for a place in the last eight, after beating Chinese Taipei’s world No. 39 Pai Yu-po 21-7, 21-11 on Tuesday.
At last week’s French Open, Yeo defeated Tunjung in straight sets en route to the quarter-finals as she rose to world No. 26.