Loh Runs Out Of Miracles

He admits to playing badly against Popov, whose brother he beat the day before

- David Lee

Without mincing his words, Loh Kean Yew described his performance in his quarter-final loss to Christo Popov as "like s**t".

The world No. 10 Singaporean missed an opportunity to match his best finish at the US$1 million (S$1.29 million) KFF Singapore Open, after losing 21-10, 21-14 to the 23rd-ranked Frenchman at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 30.

Loh, who reached the semi-finals in 2022 and quarter-finals in 2024, said: "I just played very badly and I'm mentally drained also. Yesterday was a miracle, but miracles don't happen every day.

"I tried my best. Although it didn't look like it, I actually tried everything that I possibly could. But he played a very good game, and it was very hard to play against him.

"My confidence went down, and his went up, and it got harder and harder to play."

The 23-year-old Frenchman has been in fine form after eliminating Denmark's world No. 3 Anders Antonsen and India's 34th-ranked H.S. Prannoy in the earlier rounds.

He will face Lu Guangzu in the semi-finals on May 31, after the 15th-ranked Chinese overcame Japan's world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka 19-21, 21-17, 21-12.

Southpaw Popov had also beaten world No. 10 Loh in the last 16 of the 2023 KFF Singapore Open, and his latest win not only took their head-to-head record to 3-3 but also avenged his older brother Toma Junior's narrow loss in three games to the Singaporean in the previous round.