Badminton, Japan Open Super 750: Lakshya Sen through to semis; Chirag-Satwik lose tight match

This is Sen’s third BWF Tour semi-final in a row, after winning the title in Canada and ending in the last four in the United States earlier this month.

Jul 28, 2023 - 16:30

Badminton, Japan Open Super 750: Lakshya Sen through to semis; Chirag-Satwik lose tight match

Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen reached the semi-final of the Japan Open Super 750 event in Tokyo on Friday, beating world No 33 Koki Watanabe in straight-games, 21-15, 21-19.

Meanwhile, world No 2 doubles team Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost a close match 15-21, 25-23, 16-21 to reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei.

In the opening game of Sen’s match, both players remained close on the score in the opening exchanges. However, at 6-6, Sen won three points in a row to take a lead that he would hold onto comfortably to win the first game.

In the second, Watanabe had raced to a 14-6 lead, but the Indian steadily clawed his way back into the game. Trailing 14-17, Sen won seven of the next nine points to win the match.

This is his third consecutive appearance in the semi-final of a BWF World Tour event. He had won the Canada Open Super 500, followed by a semi-final finish at the US Open Super 300 earlier this month.

#JapanOpen2023 #JapanOpenSuper750????

LAKSHYA SEN MOVES INTO THE SEMIFINALS!

He halts a spirited fightback from Koki Watanabe to register a comfortable 21-15, 21-19 win. https://t.co/9JoxDcftXV pic.twitter.com/l0mTwe8mPW— The Field (@thefield_in) July 28, 2023