Badminton: Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew beats India's Sen, advances to Hylo Open final
SINGAPORE: Badminton player Loh Kean Yew has qualified for the final of the men’s singles event at Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany on Saturday (Nov 6) after a win over India’s Lakshya Sen.
The Singaporean beat Sen 21-18, 21- 12 in 45 minutes. Loh is ranked 39th in the world while Sen is world No 21.
This is the first BWF World Tour Super 500 finals that Loh has qualified for in his career. He will face either second seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia or India’s Srikanth Kidambi.
Sen is a familiar opponent to the Singaporean, with Loh beating him to win the Dutch Open in October. However, he fell to the same opponent in the round of 16 at last week's French Open.
Loh is not the first Singaporean to make the final at the Hylo Open.
Earlier in the day, his compatriot Yeo Jia Min upset world No 11 Michelle Li in the women’s singles event to also reach the final.
Yeo, who is unseeded, notched a 21-12, 23-25, 21-12 win over her Canadian opponent. Li is seeded third in the US$320,000 (S$431,000) tournament.
The 22-year-old Singaporean will face Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungpha on Sunday.