Lakshya Sen storms into Dutch Open final; top seed Aakarshi Kashyap upset in semis

Lakshya Sen stormed into the Yonex Dutch Open International Challenge badminton tournament final in Almere, Netherlands, on Saturday.

The five-day tournament is being organized by Badminton Netherlands under the aegis of Badminton World Federation.

The top two seeds in the men’s singles lived up to their billing. Top seed Lakshya Sen and second seed Loh Kean Yew booked their berths in the Sunday’s summit clash with wins on Saturday.

However, the top seed in the women’s singles Aakarshi Kashyap was upset in the semi-finals by unseeded English player Abigail Holden.

Another Indian girl in the fray, Ira Sharma, went down fighting in three games in the women’s singles quarter-finals.

Lakshya Sen saves two match points in quarter-finals

The penultimate day of the competition turned out to be a hectic day for Lakshya. Twenty-year-old Lakshya survived a big scare in the quarter-final against unseeded Julien Carraggi of Belgium.

World No. 25 Lakshya saved two match points against the Belgian opponent in an exciting quarter-final.

Lakshya Sen will face second seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the final on Sunday

After losing the first game 16-21, Lakshya was down 18-20 in the second game. It looked all over for the young Indian player at that crucial juncture of the match.

However, Lakshya displayed nerves of steel to overcome that precarious situation. He reeled off four successive points to clinch the second game 22-20. Once he leveled the score at 1-1, Lakshya dominated the third and final game to close the match with a 21-7 verdict in the decider.

Lakshya was on the court a few hours later for his semi-final against Xiaodong Sheng of Canada.

Lakshya, who hails from Almora (Uttarakhand), had no problem in dismissing the world No. 67 Canadian 21-15, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

With the win, Lakshya, who trains at Bengaluru-based Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, set up a title clash with world No. 41 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

In their only previous contest, Lakshya had beaten the Singaporean 21-12, 21-13 at the Lingshui China Masters in 2019.

Top seed Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Abigail Holden of England in the women's singles semi-final

Aakarshi Kashyap and Ira Sharma go down fighting

Aakarshi Kashyap started the day in a splendid manner when the world No. 94 rallied back to edge past Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi of Singapore 11-21, 21-19, 21-14. The marathon match lasted for 58 minutes.

The hour-long match seemed to have taken a toll on Aakarshi's body as she failed to perform to her expectations in the semis.

Unseeded Abigail Holden of England capitalized on the tired-looking Indian girl with a straight-game win. 20-year-old Aakarshi failed to lift herself up and lost to Abigail Holden 17-21, 9-21 just inside half an hour.

Ira Sharma lost to Vivien Sandorhazi of Hungary 19-21, 23-21, 15-21 in the quarter-final

Earlier in the morning, Ira Sharma’s brilliant run came to an end in the quarters. Ira lost to Vivien Sandorhazi of Hungary 19-21, 23-21, 15-21 in 56 minutes.

Indian Results

(Quarter-finals)

Men’s singles: 1-Lakshya Sen bt Julien Carraggi (Belgium) 16-21, 22-20, 21-7 (51 minutes)

Women’s singles: 1-Aakarshi Kashyap bt Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi (Singapore) 11-21, 21-19, 21-14 (58 minutes); Ira Sharma lost to Vivien Sandorhazi (Hungary) 19-21, 23-21, 15-21 (56 minutes)