Loh Kean Yew’s Denmark Open run ends in q-final loss to defending champ

SINGAPORE – The boyish smile remained, but after the post-match pleasantries, the pain and puzzlement on the face of Singapore’s top badminton player Loh Kean Yew was unmistakable, as he walked off the court flicking his hand and muttering to himself.

For what looked like a promising week of top-10 scalps at the Denmark Open had ended in a 21-11, 21-19 defeat by defending men’ singles champion Shi Yuqi on Friday.

Shi will go on to face fellow Chinese and world No. 22 Weng Hong Yang in the last four on Saturday, with the other semi-final being contested between Malaysia’s world No. 11 Lee Zii Jia and Hong Kong’s 18th-ranked Lee Cheuk Yiu.

As for Loh, there will be lessons learnt as he prepares for the Oct 24-29 French Open.

There is no shame in losing to world No. 4 Shi in a Super 750 event, the third tier on the Badminton World Federation World Tour. But after beating Japan’s world No. 3 Kodai Naraoka and Denmark’s 10th-ranked Anders Antonsen earlier, the frustration will come from knowing he is still blowing hot and cold and remains short of putting together a consistently strong week.

The 26-year-old, who cashed in for US$4,675 (S$6,415) in his sixth quarter-final appearance of the year, told The Straits Times: “It’s always disappointing to lose. Unlike the previous rounds, I couldn’t find the right balance between being patient and aggressive today.

“Overall, I played a few good games this week which is a positive, but I’m still trying to get used to certain aspects of my game play, which is still a work in progress.”

At the Jyske Bank Arena in Odense, the world No. 9 was too passive and reactive and committed plenty of unforced errors in the opening game against Shi, who barely put a foot wrong despite looking vulnerable in his round-of-16 win over Thailand’s 33rd-ranked Kantaphon Wangcharoen on Thursday.

After smashing wide to miss the chance to make it 5-5, the Singaporean’s game unravelled. The lack of variation and front-court authority was ruthlessly punished by his opponent who claimed 10 out of the next 11 points to comfortably see out the first game.

Loh tried to be more proactive in the second game, unleashing a torrent of smashes that gave him a 9-6 lead, but Shi’s ability to build and finish off rallies led to another strong run as the 27-year-old won 10 of the next 13 points for a 16-12 advantage.

After throwing away the lead, Loh seemed to be able to play more freely, and looked to have gained a psychological edge with delightful backhand shots to make it 16-16 and then 19-17.

But it wasn’t to be as Shi capitalised on his outstanding net shots to win the match on the back of four straight points.

National singles head coach Kelvin Ho said: “Kean Yew was too passive in the first game and wanted to control the front court too much, so he was caught out of position and posed no danger in the rear court.

“The second game was better in terms of speed and overall control, but he still needs to improve in his choice of shots and ability to control the momentum.

“He has done well to be unpredictable in the earlier rounds, but needs to find the delicate balance between being patient and aggressive.”

Meanwhile at the US$120,000 Abu Dhabi Masters, Singapore’s top mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Jessica Tan beat Germany’s 66th-ranked Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann 21-15, 21-8 in Friday’s quarter-finals.

The world No. 28s will meet another German duo, 47th-ranked Jan Colin Voelker and Stine Kuespert in the semi-finals on Saturday.