Lakshya overcomes Ayush to enter Australian Open semis, Satwik-Chirag out

Sydney, Nov 21 (PTI) Lakshya Sen overcame a resolute Ayush Shetty to secure a place in the men's singles semifinals but it was curtains for top seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty at the Australian Open Super 500 tournament here on Friday.

Lakshya, seeded seventh, who had beaten the 20-year-old Shetty at the same stage in the Hong Kong Open earlier this year, won 23-21, 21-11 to set up a last-four clash against Chinese-Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, the second seed in the event.

Chou, ranked No. 9 in the world and a 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, overcame Farhan Alwi 13-21, 23-21, 21-16 in a match lasting a marathon 1 hour, 23 minutes.

However, Satwik and Chirag, who had reached the finals of Hong Long Open and China Masters, were shown the door by fifth seeded Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri with a 21-19 21-15 win.

Sen, the 2021 World Championship bronze-medallist, who had made it to the Hong Kong Open final but has gone without a title this year, had a tough time beating Shetty in the opening game with the higher-ranked Indian trailing 6-9.

However, Lakshya fought his way back to take a 11-10 lead at the break. Following a seesaw battle, the Almora shuttler managed a 19-17 advantage.

However, Ayush was the first one to take a game point before squandering it as Lakshya finally closing out the opener after a few tense moments.

The second game of the 53-minute contest turned out to be a one-sided one with Sen taking an early 6-1 lead, which swelled to 15-7 in no time as Ayush's challenge wilted.

Sen is the only Indian remaining in men's singles after senior pros Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth had made early exits on Thursday. PTI AM ATK AH