Home favourite Loh Kean Yew is through to the second round at badminton‘s BWF Singapore Open 2024 after overcoming a tricky first-round clash against Lu Guangzu on Tuesday (28 May).
The Singaporean had not made it past the first round at each of his last three tournaments, but did so in emphatic style in front of his home crowd against Lu from the People’s Republic of China.
Lu actually began the better of the two, but neither man could really find a foothold in the opening game as they traded the lead multiple times and the game went past 21-21 without either asserting themselves before the Chinese shuttler took it 27-25.
But Loh really came into his own in the second, with a vocal home support behind him. Loh never let Lu win more than three points in a row, and by the end of the second game the Chinese looked broken, Loh levelling the match by taking the game 21-15.
The start of the deciding game was so one-sided it looked like Lu had thrown in the towel, as Loh rattled off 10 unanswered points – 13 in total including three at the end of the second – before Lu finally got on the board.
But Lu was never in the third game and Loh closed it out without much challenge, eventually triumphing 25-27, 21-15, 21-5, for his third career win in three meetings against Lu.
Loh progresses to face Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, with the fourth seed having beaten compatriot Rasmus Gemke 21-17, 21-10.
In the women’s singles, top seed An Seyoung began the defence of her Singapore Open title with a straight-games 21-14, 21-10 win over Myanmar’s That Htar Thuzar.
An, who has already won two titles this season at the Malaysia and French Opens, next faces Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wen-Chi.