Singaporean Jason Teh’s biggest badminton win puts him through to Macau Open semis
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Singapore's Jason Teh, pictured at the 2023 Asian Games, is through to the semi-finals of the Macau Open after beating Hong Kong’s top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
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SINGAPORE – Often on the badminton court Jason Teh would build up a sizeable lead against his opponent, only to see it wasted in an agonising defeat.
But on Sept 27, the 24-year-old kept his nerve and stayed sharp to earn the biggest win of his professional career. He defeated Hong Kong’s world No. 16 and top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-18, 21-16 in the Macau Open quarter-finals at the Macau East Asian Games Dome.
The seventh seed told The Straits Times: “Yes, I would say I have grown in my mental fortitude, but there is still a lot to improve on in order to match the world-class players.
“I feel happy because I could see progress during the competition. I was also brave enough to take him on and be more consistent with my playing style.”
The world No. 44 will take on Hong Kong’s 49th-ranked Jason Gunawan on Sept 28 for a place in the final of the US$210,000 (S$269,400) tournament.
The other semi-final will be contested between Hong Kong’s world No. 25 Angus Ng and Indonesia’s 47th-ranked Alwi Farhan.
Despite facing a higher-ranked opponent he had not beaten in two previous meetings, it was Teh who landed key psychological blows in an evenly matched contest.
At 6-3 up in the first game, his cross-court smash looked to have gone wide at the end of a 25-shot rally, but the line judge called it in. As there was no video replay and challenges for the match, the decision was upheld despite Lee’s animated remonstrations.
The 28-year-old Hong Konger then lost the next six points, before mounting a comeback from 3-13 down to 18-19, but Teh managed to clinch the opener.
The second game was equally tense with both players locked in long rallies before the Singaporean claimed a 17-10 lead and held on for victory. He will make his second Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 300 semi-final appearance in 2024 after making the last four of the US Open in June.
This is also the furthest Teh has reached at this level, which is behind the Super 1000, 750 and 500 events.
He had also made the semi-finals at the Super 100 Vietnam Open in September and lost in the final of the lower-tier Polish Open in March and Luxembourg Open two months later. His latest result in Macau should also see him top his career-high ranking of 43rd next week.
National singles head coach Kelvin Ho said: “Jason has been preparing well mentally, and stuck to his game plan to play well. It is important he keeps going far in tournaments to get more points to improve his ranking to play in higher-tier tournaments.”
Teh added: “I understand myself a bit more in terms of what I need during training and tournaments in order to be consistent (at this level). My short-term goal is to break into the top 32 of the world rankings and my long-term goal will be to qualify for the next Olympics.”
Earlier in the tournament, Singapore’s world No. 17 mixed doubles duo Terry Hee and Jessica Tan retired from their first-round match against Chinese Taipei’s Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan, who were leading 21-15, 11-4 when Tan suffered a hamstring injury.
