Australian Open: Lakshya Sen Defeats Ayush Shetty to Enter Semifinals

Lakshya Sen stormed into the men’s singles semifinals of the Australian Open Super 500 after beating fellow Indian Ayush Shetty in straight games at Sydney Olympic Park on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Sen, who had also overcome Shetty in the Hong Kong Open semifinals earlier this year, secured a 23–21, 21–11 victory to set up a last-four clash with second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

World No. 9 Chou, the 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, survived a tough three-game battle against Farhan Alwi, winning 13–21, 23–21, 21–16 in a match lasting 1 hour and 23 minutes. Alwi had earlier caused an upset by knocking out Indian star HS Prannoy in the round of 16.

Sen, 26, who reached the Hong Kong Open final this year but is still searching for his first title of the season, faced a stern challenge from Shetty in the opening game. After trailing 6–9, he rallied with a strong run from 9–10 to 13–10. Shetty — this season’s US Open Super 300 champion — continued to fight, levelling at 21–21, but Sen closed out the game with composure.

The second game proved more comfortable for Sen. He built a quick 6–1 lead and later extended it to 15–7, as Shetty’s resistance waned in the 53-minute encounter. With Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth suffering early exits, Sen now remains India’s only contender in men’s singles.

In men’s doubles, top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had sailed into the quarterfinals after a dominant win over Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun of Chinese Taipei, exited the tournament following a 19–21, 15–21 loss to Indonesia’s fifth-seeded pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

—With inputs from IANS