Lakshya Sen defeated Japan’s Yushi Tanaka 21-16, 21-15 in a 40-minute quarterfinal on Friday at the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament, NDTV Sports reported.
The world No. 13 Indian shuttler needed the victory to aid his pursuit of a top-eight finish in the BWF World Tour rankings, which secures qualification for the season-ending tournament in China. Eighth-seeded Lakshya currently sits 12th in the standings with 64,980 points following his recent title win at the Hylo Open.
In the semifinals, Lakshya will face Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan. The Indian has lost both of his previous meetings against the world No. 10 player.
The opening game of the quarterfinal featured short, snappy rallies, with the longest exchange lasting 23 shots as both players traded fast exchanges.
Lakshya broke away from a 5-5 tie to build an 11-7 lead. Tanaka responded with cross-court jump smashes to narrow the deficit to 12-13 and 13-14, but Lakshya reasserted control to move ahead 17-14.
After Tanaka hit wide to concede five game points, Lakshya converted the second opportunity with a precise corner return to take the first game 21-16.
The second game remained level at 3-3 and 9-9. Lakshya capitalized on a straight smash and a baseline misjudgment from Tanaka to claim a 14-11 lead following a 30-shot rally won by the Japanese player.
Lakshya extended his advantage to 17-13 with attacking returns and secured the match when Tanaka found the net during the final exchange.
While Lakshya advanced, veteran compatriot Kidambi Srikanth suffered a 22-24, 15-21 defeat to Japan’s Koki Watanabe on Friday.
World No. 31 Srikanth controlled large portions of the match after stunning world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka on Thursday. On Friday, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist established a 12-5 lead in the second game before mounting errors cost him the advantage.
Watanabe capitalized on the unforced errors, winning 16 of the final 19 points in the second game to seal victory and eliminate Srikanth in straight games.
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