SINGAPORE – World No. 11 Loh Kean Yew is one win away from his 10th career title after he beat home hopeful Wang Tzu-wei 21-18, 21-9 in the men’s singles semi-finals of the US$240,000 (S$310,000) Taipei Open on May 10.

The 27-year-old Singaporean will meet either home favourite and world No. 7 Chou Tien-chen or India’s 44th-ranked Ayush Shetty in the final at the Taipei Arena on May 11.

After a rousing welcome for both players, it was Wang who settled down quickest as Loh misjudged the flight of the shuttlecock to allow Wang to draw first blood and proceeded to lose the next six points as well.

At the interval, the wide gap remained as Loh lifted his shot too long for the third time.

Despite growing into the game and capitalising on his opponent’s mistakes to get to 9-11, Loh soon found himself trailing 10-16 as Wang won with a series of good net plays and body shots.

Then came the stunning comeback as the visitor found his range and was able to unleash his ferocious attacks.

Loh struck critical psychological blows, winning a challenge to make it 16-16, before coming out tops in an enthralling 49-shot rally to lead for the first time at 18-17. He then closed out the game 21-18 with good net shots and yelled: “Come on!”

World No. 26 Wang, whose last tournament was at the Swiss Open in March when he retired with injury, had beaten the Singaporean in their last three encounters, with six of their eight previous meetings going to a decider.

But Loh was in no mood to extend proceedings, showing a good variety of shots to stay unpredictable as he eased to a 21-9 win to seal his place in the final.

It has been a steady return to form for the 2021 world champion after he won just five out of 15 matches since making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics quarter-finals.

In 2025, he reached the German Open final in March, losing to Denmark’s Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. He also made it to the All England Open quarter-finals later that month and finished joint-third at the Badminton Asia Championships in April.

Besides his 2021 world title, Loh has also won thrice on the Badminton World Federation World Tour with victo...