Lakshya Sen reached his third consecutive semifinal this month while HS Prannoy and Satwisairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Japan Open Super-750 tournament in Tokyo on Friday.
Lakshya defeated Koki Watanabe of Japan 21-15, 21-19, Prannoy lost to world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 21-19, 18-21, 8-21 and Satwik-Chirag went down to Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 25-23, 16-21.
Lakshya, who won the Canada Open, took 47 minutes to get past the local shuttler. Engaging Watanabe in long rallies, Lakshya went into the break with a three-point cushion (11-8). While Watanabe tried hard, the Indian earned points with deft exchanges at the net.
From 15-12, Lakshya gained a six-point lead. In the second game, Watanabe changed strategy and started hitting the shuttle hard, giving little time for the Indian to react.
