Picture Credit: Twitter
Continuing his impressive run, Indian top seeded shuttler Lakshya Sen stormed into the semifinal round of the ongoing US Open Super 300 tournament on July 14, Friday. In an all-Indian quarterfinal, Sen defeated compatriot Sankar Muthusamy in two straight games by 21-10, 21-17. Coming on the back of the Canada Open 2023 victory, Sen dominated Sankar right from the beginning, and though his 18-year-old compatriot tried to make a comeback in the second set, Sen didn’t let go of the hold.
The former world junior no. 1, Sen has been in good form lately, and in the game that lasted for 38 minutes, he emerged victorious in 42 rallies, while Sankar managed to win only 27. In the semifinal battle, the world number 12 player will lock horns with the world number seven, Li Shi Feng. Sen holds a 5-3 win-loss ratio against his next opponent.
On the other hand, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu couldn’t move past the quarter final stage at the Super 300 tournament. Sindhu lost to the World No. 36 Gao Fang Jie of China, where she went down 20-22, 13-21 in the women’s singles.
This was Sindhu’s fourth defeat in five meetings and the Chinese shuttler avenged her last week’s Canada Open’s defeat to the Indian star. Though Sindhu’s rival maintained dominance right from the beginning, the World No. 12 managed to level scores at 20-all. However, the ace Indian shuttler’s efforts fell short and the Chinese badminton player ended the match in 49 minutes.
