Lakshya Sen stuns Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, enters German Open final

It was a memorable performance from the world No. 12 Indian as he recorded his first win over his highly-fancied rival

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen stunned Olympic gold winner Viktor Axelsen in a hard-fought match to enter the final of German Open Super 300 tournament here on Saturday.

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 sent the world No. 1 and top-seed Axelsen packing with a 21-13 12-21 22-20 win in the semi-final that lasted one hour and 10 minutes.

It was a memorable performance from the world No. 12 Indian as he recorded his first win over his highly-fancied rival who has a 4-0 head-to-head record before Saturday's match.

In the final on Sunday, Sen will face Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn who beat Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the other semi-final.

Sen was ahead throughout the first game that lasted 21 minutes. He did not give the Dane any chance to get ahead of him. Axelsen found it difficult to match Sen's pace in the first game.

Sen opened up with a 4-1 lead and then extended it to 9-4. But Axelsen narrowed it down to 7-9 before Sen grabbed four consecutive points to make it 13-7. Sen's attacking game paid dividends as he took five consecutive points to lead 18-10 before clinching the first game with ease.