SINGAPORE: Badminton players Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min continued their excellent run at the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany on Friday (Nov 5) and progressed to the semi-finals of the US$320,000 (S$431,000) tournament.
Loh, who is unseeded, upset yet another higher-ranked opponent in the form of Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in the quarter finals of the men's singles. Gemke is the tournament's fifth seed and is ranked 13th in the world.
The match-up spanned about seventy minutes, as world number 39 Loh beat his opponent 21-11, 19-21, 22-20.
Loh's victory follows his upset of Chou Tien-chen in the opening round of the tournament. The Singaporean then went on to beat 35th ranked Frenchman Toma Junior Popov in the round of 16.
Loh will next face India's Lakshya Sen for a spot in the finals.
World number 21 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.
22-year-old Yeo continued her fine form as well.
The unseeded Singaporean had upset Indonesia's Indonesia's world No 23 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-19, 21-17 in the round of 16. Tunjung was the tournament's sixth seed.
On Friday, Yeo overcame Belgium's Lianne Tan (world number 38) to book her spot in the final four of the women's singles event. The Singaporean went behind 14-21, but rallied and took the next two games 21-9, 21-18.
The world ranked 26th Yeo will next face third seed Michelle Li. Li is ranked 11th in the world.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/spo...-yeo-jia-min-germany-tournament-semis-2295256
