All England Open 2024: Lakshya Sen defeats former champion Lee Zii Jia to reach semis

A runner-up finish in 2022 is Lakshya Sen’s best performance in the BWF Super 1000 tournament.

India’s Lakshya Sen fought back from a game down to stun World No. 10 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the All England Open 2024 on Friday. Sen, ranked eight positions below the Malaysian in the BWF rankings, defeated the 2021 All England champion 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 in a marathon one hour and 11 minutes. This is his second semi-final appearance at the All England Open, having finished as runners-up in 2022.

This is also Sen’s second consecutive semi-final appearance in the BWF World Tour this season following the French Open 2024 last week after seven straight first round exits in the past few months. He was beaten by reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semis last week at the French Open. In Birmingham, at the All England Open, the Indian will face WR-9 Jonatan Christie for a place in the final.

Against Lee Zii Jia, who Sen has now defeated four times in five meetings, he started well and took a 5-1 lead at the start of the quarter-final clash. But the Malaysian mounted a comeback and won five straight points from 7-12 down to level the opening game. They were also level at 20-20 before Lee converted his fourth game point to go ahead.

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In the second game, Sen once again started well to take a 6-3 lead which had progressed to 11-9 at the mid-game interval. Lee, once again, fought back and sneaked ahead at 16-14, but Sen won the next seven points to win game and take the clash into the decider.

In the third game, Sen was quite relentless in his attacks pushing Lee Zii Jia into his defence. The Indian led Lee 11-8 at the break and then 19-15 and although Lee Zii Jia won four straight points from there, Sen won two crucial points to seal the game.

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