The Indian Lakshya Sen entered his first grand finale in two years after he had eliminated the Chinese Taipei’s Chou Ten Chen in straight matches, while the Herendubbelskaar Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also the Summit Clash of the Hong Kong Open Super 500.
The 23-year-old from Almora, a bronze medal winner from the World Championships 2021, ended a long waiting time for a title shot with a fighting 23-21, 22-20 victory over world no. 9 and third seed in a debilitating semi-final of 56 minutes.
The Commonwealth Games champion had last won a super 500 tournament at the Canada Open in July 2023. He also achieved a super 300 title at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in December last year.
Currently ranked on World No. 20, Lakshya will be confronted against the second seed Li Shi Feng of China.
Earlier the World No. 9 duo van Satwik and Chirag de Chinese Taipei’s Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng-Kuan 21-17, 21-15 to make their first final of the season after six semi-final heartache. The eighth placed Indians will assume the China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, silver medal winners at the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Finally the final. It has been seven semi -finals since China opened last year. We are constantly playing semi -finals and I think we really wanted to play a final. It’s a while ago,” Chirag said.
“The last final we played was open, probably in May, before the Olympic Games. We really wanted to do it here and I think we are really happy. Another match more to go, but in general it was a good final.
“World championships were good, although we would have liked to have played the final, but I think the couples we beat with the confidence we had in the world championships, it was pretty good. But having said that, yes, really happy that we have a final playing here; we finally broke that semi -final Jinx.”
Lakshya read the attack of his opponent well during the match of almost an hour to stay ahead of most of the game. He was 3-0 in the first game, but the 35-year-old Chou continued to break on his heels before the Indian secured a kiss of four points during the break.
Chou clawed back to 12-12 with four straight points. The duo exchanged parallel shots, with Lakshya showing solid defense, including a forehand return to the gorge, but a service error gave Chou 15-14 lead.
The Taiwanese mistaken on the net, but answered with a Cross-Court Smash. He then went twice when Lakshya moved to 18-15. Chou thought there was a double hit during a network dribble, but the referee ruled against him. Lakshya went for a long time, allowing Chou to cut it to 17-18 and then leveled on 18-18 after another error by the Indian.
On 19-19, the two were concerned with a 51-shot Rally who ended with Chou who found the net. He hit back to make the score at 20-20 with a brilliant defensive pick-up. Lakshya earned a second game point when Chou scored a backhand, but wasted it with a long shot. A long serve from Chou finally gave Lakshya his third game point, which he converted with a net cord.
After a 3-3 start in the second, Lakshya slid with a few errors to 4-7. Chou extended his lead to 13-10 with Smashes and then to 15-12 with a series of powerful Jumphits. Lakshya reacted with a delicate drop but Chou regained control of 17-14.
The Indian has saved two game points with an easy kill and a clean winner on the line to bring the score to 19-20. He then produced a smash and an excellent defense shot to grab the match point, so that the game was sealed again with a happy net cord.
Lakshya admitted that it was a tough match and hoped that he can charge his energy on time for the final.
“It was a very competitive game and credit for Chou too. He played very well on every point of the game … We were on our toes. The intensity of the game was really high and I am happy with the way I kept my calm in the final phase and a few happy power cords, so a lucky day today,” he said.
“He (Chou) was very well prepared for the strokes I played. We both played so often in the past; the rallies that I knew would last a long time. We had to wait every time; even if you got it from the middle of the width, you had to expect the shuttle, so yes, I was just prepared.”
Lakshya said he will try to give his best in the final.
Satwik chirag on a run
The opening match saw the two pairs locked on 3-3 and 6-6 before Satwik’s Smashes and Chirag’s sharp interception helped the Indians on 11-8 ahead.
Although the Taiwanese went back to 12-12, the Indians rose to 15-12 and closed the game at their second game with Chirag’s oblique returns.
Chen and Lin started stronger in the second and led 4-2, but India recovered parity at 6-6 after a crime from their service from their opponents. A few mistakes from Chirag gave the Taiwanese a 10-8 pillow, only for satwik to unleash another flowering smash for things on 12-all-all.
From there, the Indians stretched their hold and moved to 17-15 while Satwik punished a weak return. Soon it became 19-15 in favor of India before a net error from Chen Satwik and Chirag handed five match points. The Indians repented immediately after the Taiwanese went long.
Published – September 14, 2025 12:22 is ON
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