KUALA LUMPUR: Viktor Axelsen has vowed to come back stronger after his 39-match unbeaten run came to an end following his defeat to former world champion Loh Kean Yew in the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open.
Singapore's Kean Yew was in perfect form as he saw off the world No 1 Dane 21-17 21-10 on Friday in Odense.
Axelsen was bidding to become the first Dane to retain the Denmark Open title since Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen in 1999.
The disappointed Axelsen said he was not at his best form on Friday.
"We just became parents a few weeks ago, so now I can spend time with my girls before I get ready for the French Open. I didn't expend too much energy this week, and I'm crossing my fingers I can do well in Paris."
World and Olympic champion Axelsen, 28, announced on social media Oct 7 that his partner, Natalia Koch Rohde, had given birth to their second child, Aya Rohde Axelsen. The couple's first child, Vega, was born in October, 2020.
Axelsen, who will take on Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the French Open first round, won six of the 10 Open events this year, including the World Championships in Tokyo in August.
"Beating Viktor now is an achievement because he is on another level. But nobody wins all the time, and he is also human, and a respectable one too," Kean Yew told Singapore's The Straits Times.
World No 5 Kean Yew faces Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the semi-finals later today.
In the quarter-finals, Zii Jia showed that he was back in the groove after staving off a fierce challenge from Indonesia's Jonatan Christie to prevail 21-16, 18-21, 21-18.
"I was most happy about controlling my emotions and patience," Zii Jia told BWF after his match.
"I struggled in the second game, made a lot of errors, and the same happened at the start of the third game, until the interval. However, I was patient in the third game."
China's Shi Yu Qi will play Japan's Kodai Naraoka for a place in the final later today.
Yu Qi defeated Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 25-23, 21-12 while Naraoka upset Lakhsya 21-17, 21-12 in the quarter-finals.