Japan Open 2023: Indian challenge ends with Lakshya Sen's dismissal in semi-finals

India's Lakshya Sen crashed out of the Japan Open 2023 Super 750 badminton tournament after going down to fifth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in a three-game thriller in the semi-finals on Saturday. With his dismissal, India's challenge in the tournament has finally ended.

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World Championship 2021 bronze medalist and world No. 13 Lakshya lost to world No. 9 Christie 15-21 21-13 16-21. The match lasted one hour and six minutes. India's challenge at the Japan Open 2023 also ended with the ouster of 21-year-old Sen, who hails from Almora. Sen had won the Canadian Open Super 500 title earlier this month.

Both these players openly displayed their skills in this thrilling encounter. The Indonesian, however, made unforced errors early on which Sen took advantage of to take a 7-4 lead. The Indian player then made a couple of unforced errors which helped Christie level the score. Sen fired two smashes to take a two-point lead at the interval.

Sen rode on some brilliant smashes and drop shots to take a strong 11-5 lead after the interval in the second game. He played well after this as well and got seven-game points. With Christie's shot going out, he won the game and leveled the match. The deciding game also saw a thrilling contest between the two players but it was Christie who took control of the game and took an early 9-6 lead.

The Indonesian took a four-point lead at the interval on the back of two brilliant returns. Christie made it 19-15 with an accurate smash and then grabbed five match points. Sen saved a match point but then hit the net to give Christy a place in the Japan Open 2023 final.

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Earlier, the in-form Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to face defeat in the Japan Open 2023 quarterfinals. With this, their winning streak of 12 consecutive matches also came to an end. The pair had a chance to win their third title in a row. While world number 10 HS Prannoy went down 19-21, 21-18, 21-8 to world number one Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.