Lakshya Sen fought gallantly before going down in three games to world No. 9 and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie in the semi-finals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Saturday.

The 21-year-old bounced back from an opening game reversal to keep his rival under pressure but in the end couldn’t get across the fifth-seeded Christie, who rode on his solid defence and quality of shots to eke out a 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 win.

The duo had a 1-1 head-to-head record before the match and it turned out to be another pulsating contest with Sen and Christie involved in some exquisite rallies during the 68-minute contest.

The Indonesian wasn’t consistent and made too many unforced errors initially to allow the Indian to take a 7-4 lead early on. However, a superb net shot coupled with Sen’s errors on the sidelines helped Christie claw back.

Pegged back, Sen needed to change his strategy and he found his groove in the second game. The decider was another roller-coaster as leads exchanged hands frequently. But it was Christie who managed to keep things in his grip.