Badminton: Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min, Loh Kean Yew advance to German Open finals
Yeo will face Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh, while Loh will take on two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen.
Singapore's Yeo Jia Min and Loh Kean Yew. (File photos: AP/Kin Cheung, SNOC/Kong Chong Yew)
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SINGAPORE: It was a day of double delight for Singapore’s top men’s and women’s singles badminton players on Saturday (Mar 1) as they booked their spots in the German Open finals.
At the Westenergie Sporthalle in Mulheim, Germany, world number 13 Yeo Jia Min saw off a strong challenge from Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-19, 22-20 in 45 minutes.
This was Yeo's first win in more than a decade against the world number 23 Dane, who had a superior 4-1 head-to-head record over her.
Describing her opponent as a "hard hitter", Yeo said that the game plan was to move Blichfeldt around the court more.
"I lost some focus in the second game and she successfully anticipated a few shots, which made me lose my lead," she added.
"I had to refocus again and managed to come through with a win. I’m really grateful for my first (Badminton World Federation) Super 300 finals and excited to give my all tomorrow."
Yeo, who is the women’s singles top seed in the tournament, will face Vietnam’s world number 29 Nguyen Thuy Linh on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Singaporean will be gunning for her first BWF World Tour title since 2019 when she won the Super 100 Hyderabad Open.
Yeo’s most recent title was the Polish Open last year, which is an International Challenge event – one grade below the BWF World Tour structure.
After Yeo, world number 15 Loh also punched his ticket for the men’s singles finals.
He saw off Japan’s world number 44 Koo Takahashi 21-13, 21-14 in 46 minutes to progress to his first tournament final since winning the Super 300 Spain Masters last year.
The unseeded Takahashi claimed a number of scalps prior to his clash with the Singaporean, beating France’s world number 23 Christo Popov and China’s world number 33 Wang Zheng Xing.
Loh’s win came a day after the tournament's second seed beat compatriot Jason Teh 21-10, 21-14.
The former world champion will face good friend and two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the final on Sunday. Axelsen, who is the tournament’s top seed, has a 10-2 head-to-head record over Loh.
The Singaporean last beat the world number four at the Denmark Open in 2022.
