The Indian challenge at the Thailand Open ended after star shuttler Lakshya Sen lost a tough three-game singles semi-final against Thailand’s second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn here on Saturday

The 21-year-old from Almora looked in control in the first game against his seeded opponent but lost way as the match progressed to eventually go down 21-13, 17-21, 13-21 in a contest that lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

Lakshya had entered the semi-final for the first time this season, having come close in Indonesia Masters, where he exited in the quarter finals.

His ranking has dropped to 23 from a career-high sixth due to a string of below-par performances this year. It was neck-and-neck between the two shuttlers initially in the first game before Lakshya surged to 11-6 lead at the break.

The Thai came out stronger after the break and won four points to reduce the lead to 11-10. But Lakshya upped his game just at the nick of time to take a five-point lead and closed down the opening game quite easily without giving any chance to his opponent.

The second game was fought on an even keel as the two players matched each other till 10 points beforeKunlavut used his cross-court smashes to take a narrow 12-10 lead for the first time in the match.