India’s campaign at the US Open Badminton 2023 came to an end as Lakshya Sen lost to second-seed Li Shi Feng in a gruelling one-hour and 16-minute match in the semifinals. A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Lakshya, seeded third here, lost 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 against Feng, who is the reigning All England champion, in the BWF Super 300 event on Saturday night.
It was a close fight between world No. 7 Feng and Lakshya, ranked 12th, in the opening game till 17 points before the Chinese surged ahead with aggressive play as the Indian committed some unforced errors to take the lead.
But world championships bronze medallist Lakshya was in no mood to give up without a fight and bounced back strongly in the second game.
Also Read: US Open 2023: Schedule, Top seeds, Draws, Check All you need to know
Just like the opener, the second game too witnessed a tooth-and-nail fight between the two shuttlers as they looked in no mood to give an inch to each other.
Both the players were involved in long rallies and tried to outwit each other with a mix of clever drop shots and smashes but the battle continued till 22 points before Lakshya pocketed two straight points to draw level and take the match into decider.
The decider was a carbon copy of the first game as Feng took the early initiative to lead 11-8 at the break.
But Lakshya kept himself in the hunt till 17 points before his Chinese opponent pressed the accelerator to pocket the game and the contest.
Lakshya, who enjoyed a 5-2 win-loss record against Feng coming into the match, had defeated the Chinese 21-18, 22-20 to win the Canada Open, his second BWF Super 500 title last week.
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