Canada Open champion Lakshya Sen continued his march in the US Open by reaching the semifinals on Friday, while double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu crashed out in the quarterfinals.
Sindhu was upset by China’s Gao Fang Jie in straight games 20-22, 13-21 in the Super 300 tournament. But Sen won the all-Indian last-eight clash against S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian 21-10, 21-17.
In the semis, Sen will face off against China’s Li Shi Feng.
Olympic medallist Sindhu appeared to be fighting hard against her Chinese opponent, ranked 36th in the world, but the Indian’s inability to win long rallies proved to be crucial in the opening game.
Sindhu was completely overpowered in the second as Fang Jie upped her game and gave little room to the Indian to approach the net and play her drop shots.
Sindhu had defeated Korea’s Sung Shuo Yun to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
In an all-Indian affair, third seed Sen easily got the better of promising 19-year-old Subramanian from Chennai.
Sen won 42 rallies against Subramanian to dominate the quarterfinal that got over in 38 minutes.
(With agency inputs)