Loh Kean Yew through to Korea Open semis after beating Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong

SINGAPORE: Loh Kean Yew reached his second semi-finals of the year after beating Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong in the quarter-finals of the Korea Open on Friday (Jul 21).

In a rematch of last year’s Commonwealth Games men’s singles semi-finals, the Singaporean came out on top as he took the match 22-20, 21-19 against the world No 23 in 45 minutes.

Loh will next face Japan’s world No 4 Kodai Naraoka in the semi-finals on Saturday.

The tournament fourth seed has a 2-0 head to head record against Naraoka, who is the top seed.

World No 8 Loh reached the final of the Badminton Asia Championships earlier this year, where he lost to Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting.

He also reached the quarter-finals in two BWF tournaments this year - the India Open and Malaysia Open in January.  He was eliminated on both instances by Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Prior to his victory over Ng, Loh beat China’s Zhao Jun Peng in the round of 16.

Zhao had beaten Loh at the All-England Championships earlier this year, but the Singaporean emerged victorious with a 21-19, 17-21, 21-6 win on Thursday.