Singapore Open: ‘Pleasant Memories’ Spur Kim/Kong
The only previous time Kim Hye Jeong and Kong Hee Yong played a Singapore Open, they fell short in the final against a Japanese pair.
· PREM KUMAR
Now reunited since November after five years with different partners, the Koreans are back in the KFF Singapore Open 2025 title match – with a shot at rewriting the ending.
Their opponents? As fate would have it, another Japanese duo: Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, who dispatched top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning in straight games (21-13 21-13) to book their own place in the final.
For Kim and Kong, the road to Sunday’s showdown included a gutsy 21-12 12-21 21-17 semifinal win over Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian. It’s the third time the Koreans have faced the Chinese pair in a semifinal this season and the third time they’ve triumphed. They went on to win the Indonesia Masters and the Orleans Masters on the previous two occasions.