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Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu has hailed Lakshya Sen for his recent good performances in the North American swing.
Last week, Sen defeated All England Open champion Li Shi Feng 21-18, 22-20 en route to his Canada Open win. This was his fourth BWF World Tour title after Dutch Open, SaarLorLux Open (2019), and India Open (2022).
Sen was in impressive form at the US Open in Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA, this week as well. He defeated the likes of Finland's Kalle Koljonen (21-8, 21-16), Czech Republic's Jan Louda (21-8, 23-21), and compatriot Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian (21-10, 21-17) to reach the semifinals.
On Saturday, July 15, Sen took on Li Shi Feng for a place in the title match. Seeded third, the Indian fought tooth and nail but couldn't beat the second-seeded Chinese player.
Sen and Feng went toe-to-toe in the opening game until they reached 17 points when World No. 7 Feng took the lead and won the game after taking advantage of some unforced errors from the Indian.
The two players continued to be locked in an intense battle in the second game, which Sen managed to clinch and level the score. Feng, however, stayed focused and took a 11-8 lead at the break, which he did not give up to wrap up the contest 21-17, 24-22, 21-17 in 76 marathon minutes.
Sindhu took to social media on Sunday (July 16) to express 'genuine happiness' for Sen's performances after his physical woes and called him 'truly inspiring'.
"I want to express my genuine happiness for Lakshya, who has been performing exceptionally well despite the difficulties he has faced. Witnessing his strong performances has been truly inspiring," she wrote in an Instagram post.
BAI lauds Lakshya Sen's terrific run in the US Open
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) also took to social media to hail Lakshya Sen's performance at the US Open and added that the 21-year-old could take home a lot of positives despite not going the distance.
"A terrific run at US Open 2023 comes to an end for Lakshya Sen. Lots of positives to take from this week. Keep at it champ," they tweeted.
