PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen advanced to the semifinals of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament with contrasting victories.
Sindhu, a double Olympic medalist, beat Fang Jie in the women’s singles quarterfinals late Friday night, registering her first win in 4 matches against her opponent with a 21-13 21-7 triumph.
Later, in the men’s singles quarterfinal, Sen defeated German qualifier Julien Carraggi 21-8 17-21 21-10.
Sen will now compete against fourth-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto, while Sindhu will face off against world No. 1 Japan’s Yamaguchi.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad has a 14-10 head-to-head record against the top-seeded Japanese, who defeated the Indian in their recent match at the Singapore Open earlier this year.
The last time Sen faced Nishimoto was at the 2022 Japan Open and Sen now holds a 1-1 record against him.
Sindhu was more aware as she r zoomed to a 5-1 early on. Her signature smashes and drops troubled Fang Jie, who also made a few unforced mistakes. The Indian lead 11-6 at the halftime break.
The second set began on an even keel with Fang Jie holding a slender 5-3 lead at one point, but Sindhu fast turned things around, reaching the interval at 11-5 with her opponent finding the net.
Most of the time, Sindhu forced her opponent to work hard while dominating the rallies to keep moving ahead. The Chinese tried to be accurate but missed the lines, quickly handing the game to the Indian with two net errors.