CALGARY: Lakshya Sen stormed into the men’s singles final of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto here.
Lakshya, who has slipped to World No.19 after struggling to find form early in the season, saw off World No.11 Nishimoto 21-17, 21-14 to enter his second Super 500 final and first BWF summit clash in over a year. PV Sindhu could not produce her best and went down 14-21, 15-21 to World No.1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a women’s singles semi-final contest.
In the men’s last-four match, Lakshya struggled to find his rhythm early on, spraying the shuttle long and at the net, and found himself 0-4 behind. The Indian then engaged his rival in long rallies and managed to catch up at eight all.
Nishimoto held a slender one-point advantage at the interval, but Lakshya turned the tables post the break and surged ahead. His trademark smashes, net play and precision in returns helped him to stay on top as the Indian wrapped up the opener when the Japanese hit long.
After holding a two-point cushion at the half-way stage of the second game, Lakshya extended the advantage to eight points at 19-11. A body return earned the Indian seven match points and Lakshya sealed the contest on the second attempt.