Lakshya Sen, the only Indian badminton player still active at the All England Championships in Birmingham, moved into the semi-finals of the men’s singles draw after a tight win over Lee Zii Jia on Friday.
It took the Indian shuttler an hour and 11 minutes to beat the current world No 10 player from Malaysia 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 to move into the semi-final in his second consecutive tournament this season. Sen had finished in the top-four stage of the French Open Super 750 last week.
On Friday, the 22-year-old from Uttarakhand came out of the blocks quickly, racing to a 8-3 lead in the opening game. Lee however steadied the ship and climbed back up to trail 8-7, before Sen went on a four-point surge to lead 12-7.
The momentum swung once again as Lee won the next five points to level proceedings at 12-12.
Thereon, the duo traded points regularly till the scores were level at 20-20. Lee managed to win the next two points to take the tiring opening game 22-20.
There was not much to separate the two players for most of the second game, as they remained within touching distance of each other till the point where Lee led 16-14. Sen then won the next seven points to secure the second game and take the match into the decider.
Again, there was little to separate the two on the scoreboard, but Sen did manage to get into a four-point lead at 12-8 and 19-15. But Lee managed to level proceedings at 19-19.
Sen however, won the next two crucial points to secure the tie and book his place in the semi-final.
He will next play 2018 Asian Games singles champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, who will come into the tie arguably fresher than Sen. Christie won his quarter-final after his opponent, second seed Shi Yu Qi of China retired after losing the opening game 21-12.
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