Japan Open 2023: Lakshya Sen Enters Semi-Final; Satwik-Chirag, Prannoy crash out

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Tokyo, July 28: India's Lakshya Sen defeated Japan's own Koki Watanabe in straight games to reach the Japan Open 2023 men's singles semifinal on Friday (July 28) at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

The recent Canada Open champion Sen beat the unseeded Japanese shuttler 21-15, 21-19 in the quarterfinals match that lasted for 47 minutes on court 2. This is Sen's third consecutive semifinal on BWF World Tour, having reached the last four earlier this month in Canada Open and US Open.

Sen opened up a 5-3 lead early in the first game before moving to 11-7 at the break. The Indian didn't have much problem negotiating the Japanese and soon sealed the opening game 21-15 with two cross court returns on both side of the court.

After the change of sides, Watanabe fought back and soo took a 7-14 lead in the second game. But, the Indian scripted a turnaround, drawing his opponent to the net and using the drop shots to good effect to seal the game and match after taking the second game 21-19.

The world no.13 will next face fifth-seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the last four clash of the Japan Open Super 750 tournament on Saturday (July 29). This will be the Indian's third meeting with the Indonesian and their current head-to-head stands at 1-1.

While the 21-year-old Sen progressed to the semi-final, it was the end of the road for Korea Open doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty pair and Malaysia Masters winner HS Prannoy after they went down fighting in their respective quarterfinal matches.

In-form men's doubles Rankireddy and Shetty couldn't produce their 'A' game as the pair lost 15-21 25-23 16-21 to Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lan of Chinese Taipei in the last eight match that lasted for an hour and 10 minutes on court 1.

In the other men's singles match on court 1, Prannoy fought hard against top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, winning the first game 21-19 and continued to show his mettle in the second essay before dropping the game 19-21 to the Dane.

In the decider, the Axelsen took full control, racing to a six-point lead at the interval before sealing the game and the quarter-final match by winning the final game 21-8. The match lasted for an hour and 16 minutes on court 1.