Loh Kean Yew beats Jason Teh to reach German Open semi-finals

The much-anticipated clash between Singapore's top men's singles players at the German Open ended without much drama on Feb 28, as world No. 15 Loh Kean Yew beat 26th-ranked Jason Teh 21-10, 21-14 in 35 minutes.

Loh will take on Japan's 44th-ranked Koo Takahashi on March 1 for a place in the final of the US$240,000 (S$324,000) Super 300 event at the Westenergie Sporthalle in Mulheim. Meanwhile, Teh collected US$1,440 and will next feature at the March 4-9 Orleans Masters in France.

The other semi-final will feature 18th-ranked Frenchman Toma Junior Popov and the winner of the tie between Denmark's world No. 4 and two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and Hong Kong's Jason Gunawan (No. 42).

Loh told The Straits Times: "It's tough playing against a teammate, as we train with each other almost every day and know each other's game well. I was lucky today with a few net rolls and glad to make the semi-finals, which I'm going to focus on."

There were interesting subplots before the quarter-final between the Singaporean power hitters - the first international encounter between the duo - which was reminiscent of the battles between former national players Ronald Susilo and Kendrick Lee in 2006 and 2007.

Since making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics quarter-finals, Loh has been on a slump of sorts, winning just five out of 15 matches before the German Open and suffering six first-round exits in Badminton World Federation World Tour events as he slipped out of the top 10.

The 27-year-old did make it to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open in October and the India Open in January, but has not reached the last four of any tournament since ending a 833-day title drought at the Madrid Spain Masters in March 2024.

On the other side of the net, Teh has been chalking up career-high rankings on the back of five finals in 2024 and winning his first World Tour title at the Super 300 Thailand Masters in February.

The 24-year-old has been in red-hot form in 2025, winning 11 out of 13 matches before facing Loh. At the German Open, he came from behind to beat Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in three games, before repeating the feat against Malaysia's Justin Hoh.

Impressively, Teh has won all of his six matches that have gone the distance in 2025, including two in Germany.

However, the exertions from the extra games appeared to have taken a toll. Despite capitalising on Loh's slow start to take a 4-1 lead in the opening game, unforced errors started to creep in as the higher-ranked player started to control the game with his speed, deception and variation.

It looked to be a tighter second game with both players neck and neck until 7-7, as Teh was able to pull off his cross-court smashes. But Loh was better at the net and was able to kill off the match.

Teh said: "Kean Yew played really well today. I just could not keep up with the pace.

"Right now I don't know what went wrong.

"I still need to go back and reflect on today's match. I just want to be able to bring my best form to the court each time for the next two tournaments."

National singles head coach Kim Ji-hyun said: "I am very proud of both Kean Yew and Jason for overcoming their opponents in their first two matches to get to the quarter-finals.

"Physically, I believe they are evenly matched, and they are familiar with each other's gameplay from their sparring during training.

"It really came down to the mental game in this match and who could perform best under pressure, as we are humans and not machines on court.

"Regardless of the result, this is a big step for Singapore badminton to have two Singaporeans contesting the quarter-finals of a Super 300 event, and I hope we can repeat this at the All England Open in March."

Also in the semi-finals of the German Open is compatriot and women's singles top seed Yeo Jia Min, after the world No. 13 beat Japan's 45th-ranked Hina Akechi 21-8, 19-21, 21-18.

She will take on Denmark's world No. 23 Mia Blichfeldt, who beat India's 46th-ranked Rakshitha Ramraj 21-12, 21-12, for a place in the March 2 final.