Mulheim: Mar 13 (IANS) India’s Lakshya Sen stormed into the men’s singles final at the German Open 2022, upsetting Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event here on Saturday.
Lakshya, the World Championship bronze medalist who was the only Indian midfielder in the fray at this event, put in a brilliant performance to get the better of the World No.1 in a close battle that lasted over an hour.
The 20-year-old Indian defeated Axelsen 21-13, 12-21, 22-20 to set up a pinnacle clash with Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who defeated Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 21-12 in a one-match. side.
This was World No. 12 Lakshya Sen’s first victory against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the world No. 1 in the current badminton rankings. In his previous four meetings, all within the last two years, Lakshya had never beaten the Dane. ace. All four matches ended in consecutive wins for the Dane.
Lakshya Sen, 20, had a strong start to the match, leading 11-7 before the first break. Despite Axelsen’s best efforts to come from behind, the young Indian won the first game 21-13. It was the first time that Lakshya Sen had won a match against Axelsen, according to a report by olympics.com.
The Indian badminton player kept the momentum going in the opening stages of the second game and looked quite comfortable with an 8-3 lead. This time, however, Axelsen found an answer and turned things around to take the match to a decider.
In the third game, Lakshya Sen followed Axelsen until the score was 5-5, but the experienced Dane broke away from there and took a 19-15 lead.
Just when it looked like the Dane was sailing to an easy victory, Lakshya took the next five points and eventually won the hour-long contest thanks to a jaw-dropping comeback.