Crowd favourites Loh Kean Yew, Yeo Jia Min overcome tough opponents to progress at Singapore Open

SINGAPORE: Drawn against tough opponents, Singapore’s top badminton players held their nerve on Tuesday (May 27) to progress to the Singapore Badminton Open round of 16.

Women’s singles world number 11 Yeo Jia Min saw off world number 12 Busanan Ongbamrungphan, while world ranked 10 Loh Kean Yew eliminated tournament eighth seed Alex Lanier in a 60-minute contest.

Up against newly minted European champion Lanier, Loh struggled to find momentum amid a number of unforced errors early on. While he summoned a superb late flurry of points to tie things up at 20-20, it was Lanier who held his nerve to take the first 23-21.

Lanier, who is ranked one spot higher than Loh in the world rankings, also beat the Singaporean in their only meeting at the 2024 Denmark Open.

But Loh would not be denied and took a four-point lead against the 20-year-old into the break.

The change of ends seemed to cause some problems for the Frenchman, and his more experienced opponent saw out the next 21-17.

Loh looked to have found a second wind in the decider as a more aggressive approach netted him a 9-2 lead. A number of unforced errors from the Singaporean would reduce arrears, but Loh would see things off 21-11.

"We were training together for the past week, and even before that we'd trained together before, and we kind of know each other's game. Overall, it was still a tough match," said Loh of his opponent.

"At the start (of the third game), I tried to stay even more focused. I think he lost a bit of focus and eventually, maybe he lost the confidence."

The former world champion will next face another Frenchman, world number 16 Toma Popov, on Wednesday.

Yeo booked her place in the round of 16 with a 21-14, 21-13 win over Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

Despite facing