Badminton: Lakshya enters semifinals of German Open; Srikanth loses to Axelsen

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen continued his rich vein of form as he progressed to the men’s singles semifinals of the German Open Super 300 tournament with a straight-game win over fellow Indian H S Prannoy here on Friday.

The 20-year-old Sen, who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open in January, saw off former top 10 player Prannoy 21-15 21-16 in 39 minutes. The world number 14 had defeated Prannoy, currently ranked 24th, at the quarterfinals of India Open as well.

On Thursday, Sen had notched up a stunning 21-7 21-9 win over fourth seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second-round match.

Just like in the first game, Sen produced a five-point burst to eventually seal the contest comfortably.

However, Indian fellow Kidambi Srikanth suffered a straight-game loss to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen to bow out of the German Open Super 300 tournament here on Friday.

Axelsen beat India’s Kidambi Srikanth in straight games 21-10, 23-21. As a result, Sen will now face top seed Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals.

World number 1 Axelsen proved a tough customer for Srikanth as he went down 10-21 21-23 in 35 minutes.

It was the Indian’s sixth defeat on the trot to Axelsen, whom he had beaten thrice in the past, including en route to his 2017 Denmark Open title in Odense.

Srikanth, who was playing his first event since recovering from COVID-19 that forced him out of the India Open, looked clueless against Axelsen in the initial moments of the match as the Dane galloped to a 17-4 lead.

Srikanth reeled off four points on the trot, before reaching double figures with two more points but it was not enough to stop a marauding Axelsen to pocket the opening game.

Srikanth produced a better display after the change of sides, opening up a 3-0 lead but in a jiffy it was 4-4.

(With inputs from PTI)