World Championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen progressed to the men’s singles summit clash with a thrilling win but it was curtains for two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open here on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Sen rallied his way to a 19-21, 21-16, 21-12 win over world No. 60 Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong to enter his maiden World Tour Super 500 summit clash.
However, there was disappointment in store in women’s singles as top seed and home favourite Sindhu lost 14-21, 21-13, 10-21 to sixth-seeded Thai Supanida Katethong. “I gave her a huge lead from the beginning. In the third game after it was 6-6, I should have taken a few points but she continued to lead. She is a good player. I should have controlled the shuttles,” Sindhu said after the match.
Young Aakarshi Kashyap too had a golden chance but she squandered five game points in the opening set to allow Busanan register a 26-24, 21-9 win in the other women’s singles semi-final.
Sen, seeded third, will face reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash on Sunday in a repeat of Dutch Open final last year.
“It is a good feeling to play my first super 500 final at my home country,” said Sen, who had won two Super 100 titles — Dutch Open and SaarLorLux Open — besides three international challenge at Belgium, Scotland and Bangladesh in 2019.
In the men’s doubles, world No. 10 pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy cruised to a 21-10, 21-18 win over France duo of William Villeger and Fabien Delrue to make it to the final. Chirag and Satwik will square off against three-time world champion Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia on Sunday.
In other results, Indian women’s doubles pair of Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayan and Ashna Roy lost 12-21, 9-21 to fourth-seeded Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.
On Sunday, Sen will be itching to set the record straight after losing the Dutch Open final to Loh. Overall, the duo has a 2-2 head-to-head record with Sen losing two of the last three meetings. “Both of us are playing well, it will be a good match tomorrow and I am really looking forward to playing him,” Sen said about his final clash.
Covid crisis
The pandemic continued to take a toll on the India Open with two players being withdrawn from the main draw ahead of their mixed doubles semi-final clash on Saturday.
The second-seeded Russian mixed doubles player Rodion Alimov tested positive for the virus and was withdrawn from the tournament. His mixed doubles partner Alina Davletova was also withdrawn after being identified as a close contact.
