Singapore's Loh Kean Yew thrashes Dane in 24 mins, advances to semi-finals of Indonesia Open

SINGAPORE - Loh Kean Yew's fantastic run at the Indonesia Open continued on Friday (Nov 26) as he made short work of Denmark's world No.21 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus to progress into the semi-finals.

The 26th-ranked Loh beat Vittinghus 21-9, 21-4 in an incredible 24 minutes at the Bali International Convention Center.

A day earlier, the Singaporean had claimed the biggest scalp of his career when he upset Japan's world No.1 and defending world champion Kento Momota in 69 minutes.

Loh will now face another Dane, world No.13 Rasmus Gemke, in the semi-final of the US$850,000 (S$1.16 million) Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 1000 event on Saturday.

Loh, 24, has been on a tear since his one-month training stint with Tokyo 2020 men's singles champion Viktor Axelsen after the Olympics.

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Not only did he win the Super 500 Hylo Open in Germany on Nov 7, he has also beaten a string of top players in the past month.

Aside from Momota, he has also bested Chinese Taipei's world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen, Malaysia's All England champion Lee Zii Jia (seventh), Taiwanese Wang Tzu-wei (11th), Denmark's Rasmus Gemke (13th) and India's Lakshya Sen (19th).

Loh is the first Singaporean to reach a Super 1000 semi-final since the BWF World Tour began in 2018.