Lakshya to meet World Champ Yew in final; Sindhu bows out

New Delhi, Jan 15: World championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen progressed to the men’s singles summit clash with a thrilling win but it was curtains for two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open here on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Sen rallied his way to a 19-21 21-16 21-12 win over world number 60 Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong to enter his maiden World Tour Super 500 summit clash.
However, there was disappointment in store in women’s singles as top seed and home favourite Sindhu lost 14-21 21-13 10-21 to sixth seeded Thai Supanida Katethong.
“I gave her a huge lead from the beginning. In the third game after it was 6-6, I should have taken a few points but she continued to lead. She is a good player. I played at Bali against her, her strokes are deceptive. I should have controlled the shuttles,” Sindhu said after the match.
Young Aakarshi Kashyap too had a golden chance but she squandered five game points in the opening game to allow Busanan register a 26-24 21-9 win in the other women’s singles semifinal.
Sen, seeded third, will face reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash on Sunday in a repeat of Dutch Open final last year.
Loh, seeded fifth, was given a walkover in the other semi-finals by Canada’s Brian Yang after developing a sore throat and headache.
In the men’s doubles, world number 10 pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy cruised to a 21-10 21-18 win over France duo of William Villeger and Fabien Delrue to make it to the finals. Chirag and Satwik will square off against three-time world champion Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia on Sunday.
In other results, Indian women’s doubles pair of Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayan and Ashna Roy lost 12-21 9-21 to fourth seeded Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.
Sen and Lohhave a 2-2 head-to-head record with Sen losing two of the last three meetings.
In the men’s singles semifinals, both shuttlers showed their attacking prowess during the last-four clash. Sen made his opponent move across the court with his returns and used his smashes to good effect to open up a four-point lead at 10-6 after being 2-4 down initially.
He grabbed eight match points with a drop and sealed it without much ado after his opponent went to net again.
Sindhu, who had beaten Katethong at the Indonesia Masters last year, however, couldn’t summon her best against an opponent ranked 33rd in the world.
A rattled Sindhu dished out some aggressive returns after the change of sides to lead 4-2 and then managed a slender 11-10 lead at the break. The decider started as a close affair but Katethong soon eked out a slender 9-7 lead before entering the interval at 11-7. Katethong grabbed eight match points and sealed it when Sindhu went long again. (PTI)

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