Japan Open: Lakshya Sen enters semifinals; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty pair bows out

Tokyo [Japan]: India’s star shuttler Lakshya Sen extended his excellent run on Thursday, defeating local hope Koki Watanabe in straight games to enter the semifinals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton competition in Tokyo.

The 2022 Commonwealth Champion Lakshya registered a straight-set 21-15 21-19 victory over Watanabe to make his third successive semifinals, following his exploits in Canada and the United States.

Sen, who won the Canada Open Super 500 earlier this month, jumped out to a 5-3 lead early on before closing to 11-7 at the break.

The Indian had little trouble manoeuvring the Japanese and quickly sealed the opening game with two cross-court returns on both sides of the court.

Watanabe tried to infuse some energy into the rallies after switching sides, but Sen looked in command and moved to 3-2 with a stunning cross court drop. A 42-shot rally finished with Sen’s backhand falling into the net, giving Watanabe a 5-3 lead.

Sen, who trailed 7-14, staged a comeback, pulling his opponent to the net and making good use of drop shots. With a cross-court smash, he quickly turned the tables at 18-17.

Sen secured one match point with two returns on his opponent’s backhand before producing another crisp return at the backhand line to clinch the match against his Japanese opponent.

Meanwhile, the Indian in-form men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty failed to bring their ‘A’ game into the match, falling 15-21 25-23 16-21 to Olympic winners Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lan of Chinese Taipei.

Indian eighth seed HS Prannoy will be in action later in the day against World and Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen.