Canberra: Lakshya Sen advanced to the men’s singles semifinals of the Australian Open Super 500 after securing a commanding straight-games win over compatriot Ayush Shetty at Sydney Olympic Park.
The seventh seed, who had previously beaten Shetty at the same stage of the Hong Kong Open earlier this year, clinched the match 23–21, 21–11. With this victory, Sen sets up a high-stakes semifinal clash against second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
Chou, currently ranked World No. 9 and a 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, survived a tough three-game battle against Farhan Alwi, eventually prevailing 13–21, 23–21, 21–16 in a 1-hour-23-minute contest. Alwi had caused an upset earlier by eliminating senior Indian shuttler HS Prannoy in the round of 16.
Sen, 26, who reached the final of the Hong Kong Open this season but is still chasing his first title of the year, encountered strong resistance from Shetty in the opening game. Trailing 6–9 at one stage, Sen fought back with four straight points from 9–10 to gain a 13–10 lead. Shetty, the reigning US Open Super 300 champion, stayed competitive throughout and levelled the score at 21–21 before Sen sealed the game.
The second game proved more one-sided, with Sen surging ahead 6–1 and later 15–7 as Shetty struggled to mount a comeback. The match lasted 53 minutes, after which Sen emerged as India’s lone remaining contender in men’s singles, following early exits by Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth.
In men’s doubles, top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out in the quarterfinals. After a dominant opening match against Chinese Taipei’s Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun, the Indian pair fell to Indonesia’s fifth-seeded duo, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri, losing 19–21, 15–21.
