India’s Lakshya Sen extended his excellent run on Thursday, defeating local hope Koki Watanabe in straight games to get to the semifinals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament.
Sen, a bronze medalist at the 2021 World Championships, defeated Watanabe, ranked 33rd, 21-15, 21-19, to advance to his third consecutive semifinal after wins in Canada and the United States.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion, the 21-year-old from Almora, will face either Indonesian fifth seed Jonatan Christie or Thai third seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the in-form men’s doubles duo, couldn’t bring their ‘A’ game, losing 15-21 25-23 16-21 against Olympic winners Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lan of Chinese Taipei.
Sen, who won the Canada Open Super 500 earlier this month, took an early 5-3 lead before moving to 11-7 at the break. The Indian didn’t have much problem negotiating the Japanese and quickly sealed the first game with two cross-court returns on both side of the court.
Watanabe tried to bring some pace in the rallies after switching sides, but Sen looked in command and went 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 before consolidating it further at 7-3.
Sen was trailing 7-14 when the Japanese strengthened his defence.
The Indian, however, attempted a comeback, pulling his opponent to the net and making effective 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 making another precise return at the back-line and then threw his racquet in celebration.