German Open: Lakshya Sen Beats HS Prannoy To Enter Semis, Kidambi Srikanth Out
NDTV
German Open: Lakshya Sen will face the winner of the other quarterfinal match between Olympic champion and top seed Viktor Axelsen and India's Kidambi Srikanth on Saturday.
World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen progressed to the semifinals but fellow Indian Kidambi Srikanth suffered a straight-game loss to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen to bow out of the German Open Super 300 tournament in Muelheim An Der Ruhr, Germany on Friday. The 20-year-old Sen, who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open in January, continued his rich vein of form as he saw off former top 10 player HS Prannoy 21-15 21-16 in an all-Indian quarterfinals that lasted 39 minutes. The world number 14 had defeated Prannoy, currently ranked 24th, at the quarterfinals of India Open as well.
Sen will now face top seed and former world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semifinals on Saturday.
World number 1 Axelsen proved a tough customer for Srikanth as he went down 10-21 21-23 in 35 minutes.
It was the Indian's sixth defeat on the trot to Axelsen, whom he had beaten thrice in the past, including en route to his 2017 Denmark Open title in Odense.
Srikanth, who was playing his first event since recovering from COVID-19 that forced him out of the India Open, looked clueless against Axelsen in the initial moments of the match as the Dane galloped to a 17-4 lead.
