Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen stormed into the final of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto here.
Sen, who has slipped to world No. 19 after struggling to find his form early in the season, saw off the world No. 11 Japanese 21-17, 21-14 to enter his second Super 500 final.
The 21-year-old Indian, who claimed a bronze at the 2021 World Championships, will face China’s Li Shi Feng in the final.
“It was a pretty bad start, I couldn’t control the shuttle well. The moment I got the rhythm at the net (it got better). Near-perfect netplay was the key and we were both trying to do that,” Sen said.
“Eventually I took control at the net, the smashes were also working. Overall, I played a good tactical game and I’m happy.”
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, however, went down 14-21, 15-21 to world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in her semi-final.
A former world No. 6, Sen had undergone a nose surgery for a deviated septum after the World Championships last August and took a lot of time to recover.
Sen last played a final at the Commonwealth Games last year. After a series of early exits, he showed signs of recovery when he reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open.