Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu progressed to the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s singles events, respectively, at the Canada Open Super 500 in Calgary on Friday.
Sen had to work hard in a 57-minute match against Belgian qualifier Julien Carragi, but eventually won 21-8, 17-21, 21-10.
Sindhu meanwhile came up with a comprehensive 21-13, 21-7 win over China’s Gao Fang Jie.
Sindhu had never beaten Gao in the previous three occasions they had met. But on Friday, the fourth seeded-Indian came up with a solid win in a match that lasted 44 minutes.
The Indian duo are the only remaining players from the country left active at the event in Calgary. Both though will face tough Japanese opponents in the next round.
Sen takes on the fourth seed and world No 11 Kenta Nishimoto. This will be the third meeting between the two, with both winning one match each.
However, both their previous matches were tight encounters.
Sen had won the first meeting at the Round of 32 of the 2021 BWF World Championships 22-20, 15-21, 21-18. That match lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
Their second meeting was at the Japan Open last year, with Nishimoto winning 18-21, 21-14, 21-13.
Sindhu, meanwhile, takes on top seed Akane Yamaguchi in a mouth-watering clash.
This will be the 25th meeting between the duo, with Sindhu leading the head-to-head stats 14-10 at the moment.
Update: The article earlier incorrectly stated the opponents PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen faced. It has been updated to reflect the true match details.
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