Thailand Open: Lakshya in semis; Kiran out
The 21-year-old Lakshya punched the air after unleashing a jump smash, which sealed his 21-19, 21-11 win in the quarter-final match.
BANGKOK: Lakshya Sen stormed into the men’s singles semi-finals of the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament with a straight-game demolition of Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao here on Friday.
The 21-year-old Lakshya punched the air after unleashing a jump smash, which sealed his 21-19, 21-11 win in the quarter-final match. The victory helped him to enter the last-four stage for the first time this season, having come close in the Indonesia Masters, where he exited in the quarter-final phase.
Lakshya, whose ranking has slipped to World No.23 following below-par performances, will take on second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the semi-finals. Kiran George’s giant run came to an end after he went down 16-21, 17-21 to Toma Junior Popov of France in another men’s singles last-eight match.
The Lakshya-Leong match was off to an exciting start as they pushed each other from the very beginning. After holding a slender one-point lead at the interval, the Malaysian extended the cushion to six points at 16-10. But the Indian then changed gears and stepped up the pace in rallies to restore parity at 17-all.
Lakshya ensured his stunning comeback did not go in vain as he pocketed the opening game with Leong looking tired. In the second game, the Indian led by three points at the break and completed the formalities with a dominant show.