Satwik-Chirag pair enters Denmark Open semifinals, Lakshya bows out

Star Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the semifinals, while Lakshya Sen lost his men's singles quarterfinal match in straight games at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Friday.

The Indian doubles pair, winners of the BWF World Championships bronze medal earlier this year, beat the unseeded Indonesian duo of Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Rahmat Hidayat 21-15, 18-21, 21-16 in a hard-fought quarterfinal that lasted 65 minutes.

The Indian duo will next play the winner of another quarterfinal between eight seeds Chen Bo Yang and Yi Liu of China and Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. The Satwik-Chirag combination had defeated Scotland's Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley, and Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in their opening two rounds. Lakshya, who had stunned world number two and local favourite Anders Antonsen in straight games on Thursday, looked jaded as he went down to seventh-seeded Frenchman Alex Lanier 9-21, 14-21 in 44 minutes.

The opening game was all about the Frenchman dominating the proceedings and taking an 8-2 lead with the help of five consecutive points even as Lakshya, the Paris Olympics fourth-place finisher, faltered at the net and committed several unforced errors.

The second game saw Lakshya taking an early 3-1 advantage before he again fell back as the Lanier won nine consecutive points to take a 10-4 lead and then close out the match with ease.

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