Japan Open: Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie pips India’s Lakshya Sen to secure final berth

Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie pipped India’s young badminton sensation Lakshya Sen in a three-set-long (21-15 13-21 21-16) thrilling semifinal in the ongoing Japan Open Super 750 tournament on Saturday, July 29.

The game turned out to be an engaging tug of war between the Asian Games champion Christie and the reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya and went right down to the wire with the Indonesian holding his nerves till the end to emerge victorious and book a berth in the summit clash.

The match lasted for 68 minutes and witnessed the duo match each other shot for shot. Both players had faced each other twice prior to the semifinal and held a 1-1 head-to-head count. Christie looked a bit rusty to begin with in the opening set and the Almora-born took the advantage of the same and went into the interval with a 11-9 two-point advantage.

However, the experienced Christie clawed his way back into the contest after the resumption of play and showed plenty of aplomb to claim the first set 21-15.

After conceding the opening set, the 21-year-old was expected to be under the pump but it didn’t turn out to be that way and he produced some remarkable smashes and combined them well with a few drop shots to keep an upper hand in the second set.

Once the second set went in favour of the young Indian prodigy, it was all to play for in the final set with a place in the summit clash up for grabs for both athletes. The experienced campaigner Christie was able to secure an early lead and went into the final interval with a four-point advantage. 

Lakshya did everything in his grasp to script a turnaround but wasn’t able to penetrate the impeccable defence of Christie as the latter secured victory in a high-octane thriller to earn a shot at winning the tournament.

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