Loh Kean Yew’s positive trend continues. The Singaporean player has made it to the semifinal of the Indonesia Open 2021. He won that ticket after defeating Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus from Denmark in a straight game 21-9, 21-4 that lasted only 25 minutes. It was Loh’s second meeting with Vittinghus. In terms of ranking, Loh Kean Yew is still behind. He’s now ranked #26 or 5 points below Vittinghus.
Previously, in the round of 16, Loh Kean Yew made a surprise by defeating Japanese top seed Kento Momota with 21-17, 17-21, 21-19. It’s clear that since the beginning of 2021, Loh Kean Yew has been on fire. He won the title at the Hylo Open that was held in Saarbrucken, Germany on 2-7 November. In the final round, Loh defeated Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 19-21, 21-13, 17-12. Lee retired at the third game due to injury.
Loh’s success continued in October 2021 when he came out as the champion of the Dutch Open. At the final round, the player who’s coached by Mulyo Handoyo from Indonesia was leading in a straight game 21-12, 21-16 over Indian player Lakshya Sen.
In the semifinal of the Indonesia Open 2021, Loh Kean Yew will face another Denmark representative, Rasmus Gemke, who got his ticket to the semifinal after defeating Japanese player Kenta Nishimoto 21-18, 21-17. Loh has good meeting records with Gemke. He had defeated the world’s #13 at the quarterfinal of the Hylo Open 2021 with 21-11, 19-21, 22-20.
The other semifinal will have Indonesia’s representative Jonatan Christie against Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist Viktor Axelsen from Denmark. At the quarterfinal, Christie didn’t have to break any sweat as his opponent Anders Antonsen withdrew due to injury. Axelsen, on the other hand, easily won his match against Sai Praneeth from India in a straight game 21-12, 21-8. This semifinal will be Christie and Axelsen’s sixth meeting with Axelsen having won 4 matches.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, the Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi fell in the hand of Pornpawee Chochuwong from Thailand in a rubber game 21-6, 23-21, 21-11. This victory added one point for Chochuwong, changing the Yamaguchi-Chochuwong meeting record into 5-4.
In the semifinal, Pornpawee Chochuwong will go against An Seyoung from Korea who just won the Indonesia Masters 2021 last week. Seyoung made it to the semifinal after defeating Phittayaporn Chaiwan from Thailand 21-13, 21-11. In the other semifinal, PV Sindhu from India will face Ratchanok Intanon from Thailand.
