Australian Open 2025: Lakshya Sen keeps India's hope alive; Satwik-Chirag bow out in quarters

Lakshya Sen is the only Indian alive in title contention.

It was a bittersweet day at the BWF Australian Open 2025 for India, as the country’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out in the quarter-finals. But amid the heartbreak, Indian contingent still found hope, coming from Lakshya Sen, who marched into the semis on Friday.

In a rare all-Indian quarter-final clash, the World No.14 Lakshya faced the young sensation Ayush Shetty and came through with 23-21, 21-11 win in a 52-minute battle at the Quaycentre, Olympic Boulevard.

Sen started strong in the first game with the score levelled at 6-6 before a few soft net errors pushed Lakshya behind 6-9.

From there, both the Indian rising stars exchanged points continuously, staying neck-and-neck until 21-21. However, then Lakshya finally closed out the first game with his classic reflexes.

The second game was a one-side affair. Lakshya opened up a 5-1 lead early and maintained complete dominance to take it 21-11.

Now, with this victory, Lakshya extended his head-to-head record against Ayush Shetty to 2-0 and entered his fourth semi-final of the season.

Sen remains in pursuit of his first title of the year. This also marks his second straight semifinal appearance after reaching the last four at the Japan Masters, where he lost to Kenta Nishimoto.

He will now take on World No. 9 Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei on November 22, Saturday in the semifinals in Sydney.

Now for the disappointing part of the day, the World No. 7 pair Satwik–Chirag fell 19-21, 15-21 to the 13th-ranked Indonesian duo Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Fajar Alfian in 50 minutes.

The Indians actually made a strong start in the first game, racing to a 7-2 lead. But the Indonesians slowly closed the gap and leveled it at 16-all before showing the flashes of brilliance that earned them the game.

The second game remained tight early on with scores tied at 7-7 and then 9-10. The reigning Asian Games champions Satwik-Chirag only for a brief moment ignited hopes of a comeback by taking a 12-10 lead.

But things quickly slipped away as errors crept in. The shuttle began falling on the wrong side for the Indians, and the Indonesians closed the match 21-15.

This is the second straight tournament event where Satwik-Chirag have been knocked out by an Indonesian pair. Earlier, Aridanto and Rahmat Hidayat handed them a first-round exit at the French Open in October.

India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag are still searching for their first title of the season, and the Australian Open adds another painful chapter to their year.

So far, only Ayush Shetty remains the lone Indian to have won a BWF Tour title in 2025, after claiming the US Open earlier this season.

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