Japan Open: Lakshya Sen Puts Up Gallant Fight In Loss To Jonatan Christie

Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought gallantly before going down in three games to world number 9 and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie in the semifinals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Saturday. The 21-year-old from Almora bounced back from an opening game reversal to keep his rival under pressure but in the end couldn't get across the fifth-seeded Christie, who rode on his solid defence and quality of shots to eke out a 21-15 13-21 21-16 win.

The duo had a 1-1 head-to-head count before the match and it turned out to be another pulsating contest with Sen and Christie involved in some exquisite rallies during the 68-minute contest.

Sen is known to be faster and to negotiate his speed, Christie needed to produce high-quality shots.

However, the Indonesian wasn't consistent and made too many unforced errors initially to allow the Indian take a 7-4 lead early on. However, a superb net shot coupled with Sen's errors on the sidelines helped Christie claw back with three points.

Sen unleashed two booming smashes to keep himself ahead and went to the interval with a two-point advantage after Christie went long and wide.

Christie levelled the scores after the resumption, playing some superb blocks and drop shots. He went up to 15-12 after winning a 32-shot rally.

The Indonesian started constructing his rallies by mixing his shots and also finished well to move to 19-13 after Sen went wide.

A quick exchange ended with Sen missing a shot as Christie had a five game points and he sealed it with a backhand flick near the net.

Pegged back, Sen needed to change his strategy and he found his groove after an initial duel in the second game.

The Indian varied the pace of the rallies and produced some quality