Loh Kean Yew reaches Taipei Open final after comeback win over Taiwanese Wang Tzu-wei

Loh Kean Yew (above) will meet home favourite Chou Tien-chen in the Taipei Open final on May 11. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE – World No. 11 Loh Kean Yew is one win away from his 10th career title after he beat home hopeful Wang Tzu-wei 21-18, 21-9 in the men’s singles semi-finals of the US$240,000 (S$310,000) Taipei Open on May 10.

The 27-year-old Singaporean will meet home favourite and world No. 7 Chou Tien-chen in the final at the Taipei Arena on May 11. The four-time Taipei Open champion beat India’s 44th-ranked Ayush Shetty 21-18, 21-17 in the other semi-final, and has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Loh after winning their latest meeting in the 2024 Thailand Masters final.

After a rousing welcome for both players in the first semi-final, it was Wang who settled down quickest as Loh misjudged the flight of the shuttlecock to allow Wang to draw first blood and proceeded to lose the next six points as well.

At the interval, the wide gap remained as Loh lifted his shot too long for the third time.

Despite growing into the game and capitalising on his opponent’s mistakes to get to 9-11, Loh soon found himself trailing 10-16 as Wang won with a series of good net plays and body shots.

A timely tactical shift paid dividends, as national singles coach Kim Ji-hyun said: “Because of the drift, the speed of the shuttle was so much faster on one side of the court compared to the other side. I had to ask Kean Yew to change tactics to attack more and dominate the front court.”

Loh added: “I had trouble controlling the draught which was not to my favour, so I did my best to come up with solutions.”

Then came the stunning comeback as the visitor found his range and was able to unleash his ferocious attacks.

Loh struck critical psychological blows, winning a challenge to make it 16-16, before coming out tops in an enthralling 49-shot rally featuring quick reflexes and theatrical saves to lead for the first time at 18-17. He then closed out the game 21-18 with good net shots and yelled: “Come on!”

World No. 26 Wang, whose last tournament was at the Swiss Open in March when he retired with injury, had beaten the Singaporean in their last three encounters, with six of their eight previous meetings going to a decider. He later admitted he had problems getting back into the game after his opponent increased the tempo.

And Loh was in no mood to extend proceedings, showing a good variety of shots to stay unpredictable as he eased to a 21-9 win in the second game to seal his place in the final.

It has been a steady return to form for the 2021 world champion after he won just five out of 15 matches since making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics quarter-finals.

In 2025, he reached the German Open final in March, losing to Denmark’s Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. He also made it to the All England Open quarter-finals later that month and finished joint-third at the Badminton Asia Championships in April.

Following the Asian championships, the national singles players trained for a week in Jiangxi, China, as Loh worked with retired Chinese player Zhao Junpeng, who was the 2022 world championships bronze medallist.

Kim said: “In Singapore, with a limited pool of players in the national team, it is difficult to maintain a high intensity of training for our top-tier players that includes quality match play which simulates actual competition conditions. The overseas training camps allow our players to learn different playing styles, and also to adapt and respond effectively to these styles in competition.

“Even though the intensity and the volume of training has been high, all the players are doing great. I hope they will perform well in the tournaments ahead.”

Besides his 2021 world title, Loh has won thrice on the Badminton World Federation World Tour with victories at the 2019 Thailand Masters, 2021 Hylo Open and 2024 Spain Masters. He also has five lower-tier international titles.

David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.

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