Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought laborious earlier than happening in 3 video games in opposition to reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China within the males’s singles semifinals of the USA Open badminton match right here.
A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Lakshya, seeded 3rd right here, misplaced 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 in opposition to second-seed Feng in a grueling last-four fit that lasted one hour and 16 mins within the BWF Super 300 tournament on Saturday night time.
It was once an in depth combat between global no. 7 Feng and Lakshya, ranked twelfth, within the opening recreation until 17 issues earlier than the Chinese surged forward with competitive play because the Indians dedicated some unforced mistakes to take the lead.
But global championships bronze medalist Lakshya was once in no temper to surrender with out a combat and bounced again strongly in the second one recreation.
Just just like the opener, the second one recreation too witnessed a tooth-and-nail combat between the 2 shuttlers as they regarded in no temper to offer an inch to one another.
Both the gamers have been occupied with lengthy rallies and attempted to outwit every different with a mixture of artful drop photographs and smashes however the struggle endured until 22 issues earlier than Lakshya pocketed two instantly issues to attract stage and take the fit into decider.
The decider was once a carbon replica of the primary recreation as Feng took the early initiative to steer 11-8 on the destroy.
But Lakshya stored himself within the hunt until 17 issues earlier than his Chinese opponent pressed the accelerator to pocket the sport and the competition.
Lakshya, who loved a 5-2 win-loss report in opposition to Feng getting into the fit, had defeated the Chinese 21-18, 22-20 to win the Canada Open, his moment BWF Super 500 identify final week.