KUMAMOTO — India's Lakshya Sen progressed to the men's singles second round with a win in straight games over Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen in the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.
The eighth seeded Indian, who received a big boost after winning the Hylo Open in Germany, beat Chi 21-19, 21-18 in a minute clash.
However, India faced defeats in doubles matches.
India’s Dhruv Rawat and K. Maneesha went down 21-16, 14-21, 14-21 to fourth seeds Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei, while Hariharan Amsakarunan and Tanisha Crasto lost 7-21, 9-21 to top seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China.
Lakshya, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, had suffered a loss against Chi at Malaysia Open last year. He had returned the favours at Australia Open the same year.
On Wednesday, it was another close match as the two fought tooth and nail for supremacy.
World No. 13 Lakshya fell 4-7 behind in the opening game as Chi, ranked 24, grabbed a slender 11-10 lead at the break. On resumption, the Taiwanese extended the gap to 15-11 but a relaxed Lakshya slowly worked his way to 14-16 with a cross court smash.
The Indian frustrated Chi with his superior net game, creating opening and finishing with cross court smashes. Soon it was 16-16 as Lakshya unleashed a down the line smash.
A defence block going to net from Lakshya after a precise smash from Chi saw the Taiwanese open up a two points lead again.
Lakshya clawed back again at 18-18 but next faltered in a parallel exchange.
However, Chi erred in a net dribble and Lakshya produced another cross court smash to take a game point and sealed it with winning another exciting rally.
The second game too went on similar lines as the two were battling for each point to be tied 8-8, but Lakshya stepped up to ensure a three-point lead at the break.
Chi got his act together to draw parity at 13-13, but Lakshya again surged to 15-13 with a cross court smash. The Taiwanese shuttler kept snapping at the heels of Lakshya, levelling at 15-15 and took the lead at the right time with a smash to go 17-16. However, Lakshya sprang into action quickly to establish control at 19-17.
Lakshya dodged a shuttle as it landed out to take two match points. He sealed it when Chi botched up his return to serve into the net.