India's star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen advanced to the semi-finals of the Canada Open 2023 BWF Super 500 event in Calgary on Friday, June 7. Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist and former world champion, defeated China's Gao Fang Jie in the quarter-finals. Whereas Sen, the Commonwealth Games 2022 champion, defeated Belgium's Julien Carraggi.
Sindhu, the eighth seed in the tournament, was scheduled to face world No. 45 Gao Fang Jie, who had upset third seed Michelle Li of Canada in the previous round. Sindhu stamped her dominance on Fang Jie in the women's singles quarterfinals, defeating her opponent for the first time in four encounters with a commanding 21-13 21-7 triumph.
Sindhu will now face world number one Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the semi-finals. Yamaguchi defeated Denmark's Line Christophersen 21-14, 21-15 in the quarter-finals. Sindhu leads Yamaguchi 14-10 in head-to-head meetings but lost to her in the first round of the Singapore Open last month.
Sen, meanwhile, continued his impressive run in the men's singles event as he overcame German Julien Carraggi 21-8 17-21 21-10. The Indian youngster was calm after Carraggi took the second set and came back to win the third and win the game.
Sen is pitted against fourth-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto in the semi-finals. Nishimoto beat Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 21-17, 21-18 in the quarter-finals. Sen has a 1-1 record against Nishimoto, having last played him at the 2022 Japan Open.
