SINGAPORE: Loh Kean Yew clinched his first title in 14 months on Sunday (May 11) after ousting home favourite Chou Tien-chen in the men’s singles final at the Taipei Open.
The former world champion, who was the second seed at the Super 300 tournament, beat the top seed and world number 9 Chou 21-14, 15-21, 22-20 in 69 minutes.
Loh has had some near-misses since winning the Spain Masters last year, notably reaching the final of the German Open two months ago.
The world number 11 avenged his 2024 Thailand Masters final loss to the Taiwanese, to seal his fourth BWF World Tour title and his first since the Spain Masters tournament.
The former world champion also improved his head-to-head record against his 35-year-old opponent to 4-4 following the victory, with Chou unable to counter his attacks at the Taipei Arena.
Going into the Taipei final, Loh, 27, had been in decent form this year, earning the bronze at the Badminton Asia Championships last month, as well as finishing as the German Open runner-up and progressing to the All England Open quarter-finals.
In addition to taking home last year’s Spain Masters title and being crowned the winner of the 2021 BWF World Championships, Loh won the Thailand Masters in 2019 and Hylo Open in 2021.
In the women’s singles final, Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki beat Thai Pitchamon Opatniputh 21-12, 20-22, 21-14 in a battle of two rising 18-year-olds to clinch her third BWF World Tour title.
