Bombarded by Christie’s stinging smashes, Lakshya Sen bows out in semifinals of Japan Open

Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie returns a shot against India’s Lakshya Sen during a semifinal badminton match of the men’s singles in the Japan Open in Tokyo, Saturday, July 29, 2023. AP/PTI

Engaging Sen in tight dribbles at the net, Christie drew out lifts and forced errors as he levelled matters. An accurate drop gave Christie the lead at 12-13, and he didn’t look behind the post that in the opener. The Indonesian would increase the lead to 4 points when Sen returned a serve into the net.

Christie had begun to show his skill as the rallies got longer. He is great at varying the pace within a rally, slowing it down with lifts and tosses and clears to the backcourt, and then suddenly accelerating with a net charge, and one such winner gave him set point at 20-15. His blitz winner after a dawdling, lulling rally gave him the opener at 21-15.

Sen started the second with a perfect lift and went 2-0 with a smash to Christie’s forehand. It’s when Sen played his best attack, stationed at midcourt and working the shuttle around at a fast clip.

There were fast exchanges Sen won as Christie hit wide, and the Indian attacked the short lifts and smashed with flat, short angles from the net to go 11-4 up with 6 straight points. Flat exchanges often ended with the Indonesian hitting into the net. While the confidence burst lasted, Sen’s overhead smashes clicked as he went on to level the set scores.

Christie had the better defence – he is compact and can transition to attack within seconds, and he would start with a 1-3 lead in the decider. Sen’s reflex swat defence winner would make an appearance soon after, but as the rallies prolonged, Christie was more on the money with his kill shot, while Sen smashed wide. Christie is also good at finding the lines under pressure and reached 9-6 with a winner on the sideline. Two unreturnable smashes at 10-7 and 11-7 gave Christie the lead at the interval, as Sen’s usually-dependable defence came undone against the reigning Asian Games champion’s stick smash.

Sen would sneak in a couple of winners to the backline to reach 9-12, but Christie kept smashing to the body which Sen found difficult to defend as the Indonesian kept a tight hold on the 4-point lead. With the pressure mounting, Sen was hitting wildly, and his reflex swat would go out too. Christie’s smash held a higher percentage of success, and he would force a lift and smash down again to win 21-16.

The Indonesian was playing a tournament semifinal after six months and has been playing limited events on the circuit. With this win, he increases his head-to-head record to 2-1. Sen goes back to the drawing board ahead of the World Championships.

Why Christie’s smashes are tough to return

The Jojo Christie smash that hemmed in Lakshya Sen in the semifinals, is hit with stinging accuracy and comes into the body at an angle. Not the hardest hitter – he had a couple of 380 kph – Christie mixes his pace in the rally and variety in strokes, working opponents along the diagonal and showing resolute defence, before he turns to kill mode. He found 17 smashes on target on the day, and also had a fair share going wide and into the net depending on the drift. But he earned himself more opportunities to smash drawing out lifts in long rallies, and converted the kill shot. Besides the body smash – mostly crosses, the straight variation saw him draw Sen to the net, or along one flank and then attack the open court with a stinging hit.