It was largely business as usual for the top seeds on Day 2 of the KFF Singapore Badminton Open 2025, with several world-class contenders cruising into the Round of 16. However, local hopes in the mixed doubles were dashed as Singapore pair Terry Hee Yong Kai and Jin Yu Jia exited the tournament after a straight-games defeat.

World No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn impressed in his first match of the tournament, comfortably dispatching Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21–13, 21–15 in 48 minutes. After a close start at 6–6, the Thai star took control and never looked back, turning up the intensity in both games and finishing with a run of five straight points in the second.

The Badminton Asian Champion said: “I feel very happy because last year I had to withdraw from this tournament. This year, I hope for the best in this tournament and will try my best. I hope to have many fans come and support me.”

Vitidsarn next faces China’s Wang Zheng Xing, whom he beat in their only previous meeting at the 2023 Korea Masters (21–18, 21–18).

Last year’s finalist Li Shi Feng also progressed, overcoming Japan’s Kodai Naraoka with a convincing 21–12, 21–14 win. Li now faces Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi, who holds a 3–1 head-to-head advantage, including a straight-games victory at the 2023 China Masters.

World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi was pushed to three games by 17-year-old Indian rising star Unnati Hooda, but eventually prevailed 13–21, 21–9, 21–15. Hooda stunned the crowd with a 15-point scoring run to take the opening game, before Wang reset her rhythm to dominate the second. In the decider, Wang raced to a big lead but had to fend off a late charge from Hooda, who saved five match points to reduce the gap to 20–15 before Wang closed out the match.

After the match, Wang said: “I made a lot of mistakes. There was a period when I lost points continuously. And maybe I changed the shuttle at that time, and the shuttle’s speed became faster. So, I might have been a little hesitant to hit the shuttle because I didn’t know the wind direction on the field very well in the first game.

Wang will now face Beiwen Zhang of the USA, who beat Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong to set up a rematch of their India Open clash earlier this year, where Wang triumphed in three games (14-21, 21-15, 21-16).

World No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi also progressed, defeating Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova21–15, 21–13. The Japanese next meets Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun, whom she previously defeated at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships.

They next face Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who lead the head-to-head 9–2 and have won the last eight encounters, including a narrow victory at the BWF Sudirman Cup earlier this year (12–21, 22–20, 23–21).

Top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China breezed past Hong Kong’s Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21–13, 21–13 in 43 minutes. The world No. 1s will face Chinese Taipei’s Teng Chun Hsun and Yang Chu Yun in the next round, marking their first meeting on tour.

Meanwhile, last year’s finalists Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan were forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury, handing a walkover to Indian pair Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh, who now advance to the Round of 16.

It was a tough outing for Singapore’s Terry Hee Yong Kai and Jin Yu Jia, who fell 14–21, 9–21 to Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. The local duo struggled to match the pace and sharpness of the Indonesians, committing several unforced errors throughout the match.

Hee reflected and said: “The Singapore Badminton Open is a very good platform and a very high-level tournament to gauge where we really are at. And obviously we are not there yet, so we need to work a lot harder.”

Jin added: “The crowd was great, but not our performance. We will definitely go back and reflect and discuss with the coaches, and see what went wrong and what to work on.”

The biggest upset of the day came in mixed doubles, where seventh seeds Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei were ousted in just 25 minutes by Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Phataimas Muenwong, 6–21, 16–21.

Held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 27 May to 1 June, the KFF Singapore Badminton Open 2025 is a key stop on the BWF World Tour Super 750 series, offering a prize pool of US$1 million. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster, with daily passes ranging from $40 to $330 and season passes from $100 to $450.

Photo Credit: BADMINTONPHOTO

The KFF Badminton Open runs from 27th May to 1st June 2025. Tickets and more info available here