Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen yesterday survived Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew to win the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters men’s final in Bangkok.
World No. 14 Chou, who has exited in the early rounds of the past five tournaments, beat Loh 21-16, 6-21, 21-16 in 61 minutes, giving the Taiwanese a welcome victory after a string of bad luck.
Prior to Thailand, the 34-year-old former world No. 2 last month crashed out in the round of 32 in the Malaysia Open and India Open, and in the round of 16 of the Indonesia Masters.
Photo: CNA
World No. 12 Loh was also making his first final appearance since the Korea Open in July last year, the BWF Web site said.
Loh and Chou were evenly matched 3-3, having last faced each other in the 2022 BWF World Tour Finals, when Loh downed Chou 21-15, 21-17.
In the first game, Chou appeared to barely maintain an advantage over Loh, who on Saturday beat Taiwan’s Su Li-yang 21-14, 21-14 to advance to the final.
After Chou secured an 8-5 lead, the pair went back and forth until they were 13-12. Chou added four more to hold an 18-12 lead, but Loh quickly closed the gap to 18-16 before Chou took the game.
Loh then showed why they were so evenly matched in the second game, stretching an early 8-4 lead to keep Chou fighting to stay alive before dominating the Taiwanese 21-6.
Chou regained his composure in the final game, fighting to reclaim an early start from his Singaporean opponent, before outpacing him to a 21-16 victory.
Thailand has reinvigorated Chou, who on Saturday dispatched the Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw 21-15, 21-12 in a brisk 34 minutes to maintain an unbeaten record against the world No. 51.
Chou fell behind 0-3 at the beginning of the first game, but refocused to fight his way back into the match by winning nine of the next 10 points to lead 9-4. Caljouw then took five straight points to tie the score 9-9, but Chou settled better, taking the game 21-15.
In the second game, the lead changed several times, but after a tie at 5-5, Chou surged ahead and stayed there, winning the second game 21-12.
Chou said after Saturday’s match that he thought he performed well, adding that he remained focused and played aggressively.
As for Su, he said he never imagined he would reach the semi-finals, and would focus on preparing for the German Open, which starts on Feb. 27.
The Thailand Masters, a Super 300 tournament that started on Tuesday, carries a US$210,000 purse.
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