All England Open 2024 Semifinals Highlights: Lakshya Sen exits after heartbreaking loss

Hello and welcome to Khel Now’s live blog for the All England Open 2024 semifinals. Please wait for the blog to load.

All England Open 2024 Semifinals Schedule

WD: Rena Miyaura/Ayaka Sakuramoto vs Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida

MS: Anthony Sinisuka Ginting vs Christo Popov

WD: Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong vs Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee

WS: An Se Young vs Akane Yamaguchi

MS: Lakshya Sen vs Jonatan Christie

XD: Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek vs Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino

WS: Tai Tzu Ying vs Carolina Marina

MD: Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik vs Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Husan

XD: Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong vs Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping

MD: Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi vs Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto

Quarterfinals Report

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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