Lakshya Sen advances to the final. Doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand go down.All England Open 2022, Day 4 Highlights:World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen showed nerves of steel as he stunned defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia to book a maiden final berth in the All England Badminton Championships on Saturday.
In the other match of day, doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down Chinese pair of Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu in the semifinals.
The 20-year-old Sen became only the fourth men’s singles player after Prakash Nath, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand to reach the final after outwitting Lee 21-13 12-21 21-19 in a gruelling semifinal match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes. While Padukone (1980) and Gopichand (2001) are the only two Indians to have won the prestigious event, Nath (1947) and women’s singles player Saina Nehwal (2015) had lost in the final.
Sen has been in sensational form in the last six months. He secured his maiden world championships bronze in December, before winning his first Super 500 title at India Open in January and finishing runner-up at the German Open last week.
Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of Pullela Gopichand & Sydney Olympian doubles shuttler, PVV Laxmi, decided to play doubles a few seasons ago. In Treesa Jolly she found an attacking partner. (Special arrangement)
Nice play by Gayatri and the lead is down to two points. The Indian pair needed this but that's not enough. The fairytale run ends. Gayatri and Jolly goes down in the semis. Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu advance.
Gayatri and Jolly combining well to snare another point. We are all level at 14-14.
Two quick points and the Indian pair are ahead of the three-point lead.
The first match was close for the most part but the Chinese pair snatched away the game towards the end. Treesa-Gayatri lose 1st game 21-17.
Really good performance from the Indian pair. They have been up to date at this point of time.
The Chinese pair can’t handle pressure at the moment. The Indian pair are going strong.
The Chinese pair gets an early point.
The players are on the court and it is time for the game to start.
A fabulous win for Yamaguchi. This was the second seed at her best, brilliant movement and defence with a generous sprinkling of attacking strokes.
Akane Yamaguchi takes the first game against Chen Yu Fei rather easily. She wins 21-11
Indian player in All England Final history:
1947: Prakash Nath (runner-up)
1980: Prakash Pradukone (champion)
1981: Prakash Pradukone (runner-up)
2001: Pullela Gopichand (champion)
2015: Saina Nehwal (runner-up)
2022: LAKSHYA SEN
That's it. Lakshya Sen has taken this game. He wins 21-19. What phenomenal fight by the young India. He does not seem to know how to give up. Now his focus will be on the final match.
Now it's 18-18. What a fightback from young Sen. He has just taken this game to Jia and has equalised. What a comeback. And in a flurry he has taken a 2 point lead. Seizing the moment
Never say never attitude from Sen as he claws back to make it a 2 point deficit. Two quick points and this is a one-point game now.
Aggressive play from Jia and some errors from Lakshya has swung this game in the defending champion's favour. He pushes one very wide but it's still a 3 point gap.
Jia moves back ahead. Pretty good anticipation of the game that is helping him in this one. That's a 2 point lead for Jia once again.
Lakshya forces an error out of Jia and gets his nose ahead but not for long. Jia gets the equalising point soon after to tie this up once again.
Jia looking a bit better from the physical perspective but Lakshya will keep going at him. And the Indian has done it. From a 8-6 deficit, he has brought this back to 8-8. What a match.
This game is swinging like a pendulum. Jia takes a point and in reply Sen takes another. All square still after a very physical battle.
Great smash and then the super quick follow-up by Jia to finish the point at the net. Scores tied.
On to the decider now and Lakshya has started well. But Jia claws back 2 points to make it very close.
Almost looks to be over as Jia gets 3 points on the trot as Lakshya looks to fight back. Gets 2 points back but Jia has overwhelmed him in this game. He takes the second game 21-12.
Too many errors from Jia and the lead has been cut down to just 6 points. There's still a match in this somewhere. Brilliant rally and Jia breaks Lakshya's run of points. 7 points gap now.
Jia gets his challenge wrong and that makes it three points in a row for Lakshya. A glimmer of hope, perhaps?
Jia on another level now as he looks to slowly sap the energy out of his opponent. Lakshya looks to be tired and has no reply for Jia's smashes. That's a 10 point lead for the Malaysian in this game.
The second game completely belongs to Jia. He has hassled Lakshya and the Indian has no reply to him. Can he turn the game on its head now?
Jia has turned up the heat on Lakshya at the moment. Very reminiscent of how he was playing against Momota yesterday.
Jia has taken this game by the scruff of the neck and forcing it to bend to his whim. He has a nice six-point cushion over Sen now.
Jia's pressure on Lakshya yields benefits for the Malaysian as he takes a quick 5-2 lead in the second game.
Back for the second game and Jia has taken an early 3-1 lead after a flurry of offence which includes 2 jump smashes.
That's it. After a huge 7 points gap, Lakshya takes the first game 21-13. He will hope for more of this.
And suddenly just like that Lakshya has moved in second gear and takes a flurry of points. Brilliant reflex defensive play by the Indian.
Lee Zii Jia is returning every shot and reduces deficit to 2 points. Marvellous play from the Malaysian.
The 3 point lead has been restored as Sen defends brilliantly. Forces Jia to get close to the lines which ends in the Malaysian sending one wide.
Another long rally. Another crosscourt smash by Sen to win the point. Jia claws back a point though.
A fine rally which ends with Jia cutting down Sen's lead to just two points after he hits two big smashes.
Sen is just sticking to his game plan, not giving much of an inch to his opponent. Steady start by the Indian.
That's a perfect start from Sen as Jia is looking visibly frustrated due to the Indian giving back a lot of shots.
Sen was leading 6-4 but Jia quickly closes the gap. The defence by the Indian is clearly of a very high quality.
That's two shots wide from Jia and Lakshya gets a two-point lead. Great stuff to start.
Sen hits a cross-court smash to Jia's backhand side and then the quick finish at the net. 4-4
Both Sen and Jia seem to be getting a feel of the conditions. The game is going on at a leisurely pace at the moment.
First point of the game goes to Lakshya. Solid defence, good movement around the court from both players before Jia finally sent one wide. Jia equalises in the blink of an eye as Sen sends one long. It's 1-1.
Both Laksya and Jia are out on court number 6. They are warming up now. We will be starting very shortly.
Watanabe/Higashino have knocked out the top seeds Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai. It's finally time for Lakshya Sen vs Lee Zii Jia.
Lakshya is expected to be in action soon There is a mixed doubles clash ongoing, following which Lakshya vs Lee Jii Zia will begin.
Watanabe/Higashino have the advantage over top seeds Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai so far. They take the first game 21-14.
Matsuyada/Shida are through to the final comfortably. They will face the winner of the Treesa/Gayatri vs Zhang/Zheng match next. They win 21-8 and 21-12.
The first game goes to Matsuyada/Shida. Some wonderful touches by the Japanese pair and their placement was fabulous. Jeong/Kim haven’t quite come to grips with their opponents at this point and to be fair, they have looked a little nervous too.
Much has happened in Lee Zii Jia’s life since the last time he played Lakshya Sen in a 11-13, 11-3, 1-6, 11-6 loss in 2016’s experimental format. He became All England champion in 2021, beating Kento Momota in quarters. Then he played a rollicking 30-29 first set against Viktor Axelsen, lost the next 20-22, before squishing Axelsen 21-9 to win the title.
So Sen effectively stands in the path of the Malaysian’s title defense.
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Fikri/Maulana knock out the Minions Gideon and Sukamuljo after a hard fought match. That must be termed as an upset. Fikri/Maulana prevail 22-20, 13-21, 21-16.
A day earlier, Treesa Jolly was across the court from her jump-smashing, attacking role model, Indonesian Olympic champion, Arpriyani Rahayu. And in the next 24 hours, she took over the attacking mantle from her hero in women’s doubles at the All England, and rattled Korean World Championship silver medallists Lee Sohee – Shin Seungchuan. Gayatri Gopichand has always borne the instinctive reflexes at the net – she likes the pace of that eyeball to eyeball position and revels in the confrontation while keeping her poise. Elated just two days back to get an entry into All England, she seamlessly looked the part, holding her nerve and switching serves on a historical day for Indian women’s doubles at All England.
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A brilliant performance by An Se Young to knock out Tai Tzu Ying. She visibly frustrated Tai with the length on her lifts and superb defence.
World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen advanced to the men’s singles semifinals of the All England Championships after his opponent Lu Guang Zu of China gave a walkover on Friday. The 20-year-old from Almora, who had secured his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then claimed a runners-up finish at the German Open last week, will face the winner of the match between Malaysia’s sixth seed Lee Zii Jia and Japan’s second seed Kento Momota in the last four round.
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the All England 2022 semi-final where Lakshya Sen will take on Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia for a spot in the final while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will aim to continue their blazing form as they lock horns with the Chinese pair of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu.