Australian Open 2025 Badminton: Lakshya Sen beats compatriot Ayush Shetty to qualify for semifinals
Lakshya Sen defeated Ayush Shetty 23-21, 21-11 to set up a semifinal clash against Chou Tien Chen in the Australian Open.
New Delhi: Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen defeated compatriot Ayush Shetty in straight games to book a spot in the men's singles semifinals at the Australian Open in Sydney on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Indian, who had also defeated the 20-year-old Shetty at the same stage in the Hong Kong Open earlier this year, emerged victorious 23-21, 21-11 to set up a semifinal clash against Chinese-Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.
Chou, who is ranked No. 9 in the world and also a 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, beat Farhan Alwi 13-21, 23-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted for 1 hour, 23 minutes. Earlier, Alwi had defeated India's HS Prannoy in the round of 16.
Sen survives scare against Shetty
Sen, who had qualified for the Hong Kong Open final but failed to win a title this year, had a difficult time beating Shetty in the opening game. Sen trailed 6-9 before he won four consecutive points to take a lead in the first game.
However, Shetty, who won the US Open Super 300 earlier this year, made a comeback multiple times to take a lead in a see-saw battle before levelling it at 21-all when Sen closed out the opener.
The second game turned out to be one-sided as Sen took an early 6-1 lead, which swelled to 15-7 as Shetty struggled. He is the only Indian shuttler remaining in men's singles after Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth had made early exits from the tournament on Thursday.
The top-seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who qualified for the last eight with an easy victory against Chinese Taipei's Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun, will compete against fifth seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri later in the day, hoping to book a place in the semifinals.