Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run at the All England Open 2024 badminton men’s singles event with a hard-fought win over Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the quarterfinal on Friday.
Sen, runner-up at the 2022 edition of the All England Open, prevailed over the 2021 champion 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 in one hour and 10 minutes. This was Sen’s fourth win over the Malaysian shuttler in five head-to-head meetings.
“It was a really good match and happy to be on the winning side. It was all about keeping the nerve. I knew he has the quality to come back and give a tough fight,” Sen said after the win.
Sen is the lone Indian left in the fray in the All England Open after a shocking second-round exit for World No. 1 doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu went down in straight games against top seed An Se Young in the women’s singles second round on Thursday.
The Indian badminton player mixed his shots well to take a 5-1 lead in the first game. World No. 10 Lee Zii Jia, eight rungs above Sen in the badminton rankings, mounted a comeback to nudge ahead at 17-16.
Though Sen saved three game points to level the scores at 20-all with resolute defending, Lee Zii Jia kept his nerve to take the game on his fourth opportunity.
After a slow start to the second game, Sen bagged five points to make it 6-3 and went on to lead the Malaysian badminton player by two points at the break. Lee Zii Jia countered Sen with a string of quick smashes to lead at 16-14 but by winning the next seven points, Sen took the match into the decider.
Sen was relentless in his attacks in the third game. Despite Lee Zii Jia saving several smashes, Sen continued with his aggressive approach to have a three-point advantage at the break.
After the change of ends in the decider, Lee Zii Jia continued to engage Sen in longer rallies but was unable to take the lead. Eventually, Sen progressed to the semi-finals after holding on to his advantage.
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Sen, who stunned Denmark’s world No. 3 Anders Antonsen in the second round, will play either Jonatan Christie of Indonesia or second-seeded Shi Yu Qi of the People’s Republic of China in the semi-finals on Saturday.
This will also be Sen’s second straight semi-final of the 2024 badminton season, having made the last four at the French Open Super 750 event last week.
Being a BWF Super 1000 event, the All England Open offers crucial ranking points for the Paris Olympics 2024. The ranking period for badminton started on May 1, 2023, and will end next month.