Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen overpowered Chinese-Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the thrilling semifinal to reach the final of the Australian Open Super 500 in Sydney on November 22. In a remarkable fightback, Sen came from a game down to defeat second seed Chen 17-21, 24-22, 21-16 in one one-hour and 26-minute encounter. Sen, who is still chasing his first title of the season, started the match under pressure as Chen took an early lead of 4-0 and entered the break with a score of 11-6. The Indian tried to reduce the deficit but Chen clinched the game 21-17.
The second game saw a fierce battle between the two players to take advantage from the beginning. The lead was briefly swapped by them before Sen showed his prowess in the tense situation to take two consecutive points at 22-22 to seal the game. In the final game, Sen quickly seized control, heading into the mid-game break with an 11–6 advantage. He stretched the lead to 14–7, and a service fault from Chen widened the gap to 17–9. A sharp cross-court smash then handed Sen eight match points. Though Chen managed to save four of them, he eventually sent a shot into the net, allowing Sen to complete a strong comeback win.
Sen is the lone Indian left in the fray. In men’s doubles, top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who cruised into the quarterfinals with a comfortable win over Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun of Chinese Taipei, lost to fifth seeds Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 19-21, 15-21 to bow out of the tournament. Earlier, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits in the men’s singles.
