lakshya-sen-satwik-chirag-enter-hong-kong-open-finals

India’s Lakshya Sen booked his first major final in two years after a hard-fought 23-21, 22-20 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash at the Hong Kong Open on Saturday.

 

The 23-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, endured a gruelling 56-minute semifinal to overcome world No. 9 Chou, securing a long-awaited shot at a major title. “Lakshya read his opponent's attack well during the close-to-an-hour contest to stay ahead for most of the match,” sources said. Currently ranked world No. 20, Lakshya will face second seed Li Shi Feng of China in the final.

 

The Commonwealth Games champion had last clinched a Super 500 title at the Canada Open in July 2023 and a Super 300 title at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in December last year.

 

Earlier, Satwik and Chirag, world No. 9 in men’s doubles, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng-Kuan 21-17, 21-15 to reach their first final of the season after six semifinal disappointments. The eighth-seeded Indians will face China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, Paris Olympics silver medallists.

 

“Finals, finally. It's been seven semifinals since China Open last year. We've been constantly playing semifinals and I think we really wanted to play a final. It's been a while,” Chirag said.

Also read: Satwik-Chirag reach Hong Kong Open semifinals

“The last final we played was the Thailand Open, probably in May, before the Olympics. We really wanted to do well here and I think we're really happy. Still one more match to go, but overall it's been a good final. World Championships was good, although we would have loved to play the final, but I think the pairs that we beat with the confidence that we had coming into the World Championships, it was quite good. But having said that, yeah, really happy that we are playing a final here, finally broke that semifinal jinx.”

 

Lakshya’s semifinal saw a tense contest, with both games decided by narrow margins. The Indian rallied from deficits, saving multiple game points and capitalising on Chou’s errors to seal the win.

 

Satwik and Chirag demonstrated similar resilience, taking control with sharp smashes, interceptions, and precise net play to convert match points in both games against the Taiwanese pair.