Loh Kean Yew kicked off his India Open campaign on Wednesday with a convincing 18-21, 21-9, 21-7 victory over Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.

The Japanese starlet, who has risen from world No. 48 to world No. 6 in a year, initially dominated the round-of-32 encounter at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi as he led seventh-ranked Loh 12-5.

While Loh clawed back to draw level at 17-17, Naraoka, who was runner-up at last week’s Malaysia Open, held on to take the first game 21-18.

The Japanese claimed the first two points of the second game but could not find an answer to Loh’s powerful smashes as the Singaporean seized control to win 21-9.

Growing in confidence, Loh raced to an 8-0 lead in the third game before closing the match out in 56 minutes.

Loh, 25, said: “The wind condition and shuttle are different from when we practised in the test court. It took me a while but eventually I managed to adapt to the conditions.”

His victory over Naraoka on Wednesday takes their head-to-head tally to 2-0 – the Singaporean won their previous encounter at the 2019 Russian Open.

Loh will face Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus next.

If he beats the Danish world No. 34, he could find himself up against a familiar foe in Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarter-finals.

Kunlavut has been a huge stumbling block for Loh, with the Thai winning their last four encounters, most recently in the Malaysia Open quarter-finals.

On Vittinghus, Loh said: “I’m going to just prepare myself to the fullest.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to perform well.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Jessica Tan were knocked out after losing 23-21, 21-17 in a closely contested match with Japan’s world No. 3 Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, who are two-time silver medallists at the world championships.

It was a case of deja vu for Yeo Jia Min in the women’s singles as she made her second first-round exit in as many tournaments after losing to the same opponent, Thai SEA Games champion Pornpawee Chochuwong, 21-15, 21-8 in 37 minutes.

Singapore’s women’s doubles pair Crystal Wong and Jin Yujia also did not advance to the round of 16 after they lost 21-16, 17-21, 14-21 to sisters Benyapa and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.