Lakshya Sen beats Chi Yu Jen to reach second round at Kumamoto Masters Japan

India's Lakshya Sen beat Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen 21-19, 21-18 to reach the men's singles second round at the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 in Kumamoto on Wednesday. Fellow Indian Kidambi Srikanth also progressed, overcoming Denmark's Rasmus Gemke to move into the round of 16.

The eighth-seeded Sen entered the match coming off a win at the Hylo Open in Germany and completed his victory in a 68-minute encounter. Sen is ranked World No. 13 and is a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist. He had lost to Chi at the Malaysia Open last year but defeated him at the Australia Open in the same year. The match on Wednesday was closely contested throughout.

Chi opened the first game strongly, moving to a 4-7 lead and holding a slender 11-10 advantage at the interval. On resumption Chi extended the margin to 15-11 before Sen chipped away at the deficit, working his way back to 14-16 with a cross-court smash. Sen used his net play to create openings and finished several exchanges with cross-court smashes, drawing the score level at 16-16 with a down-the-line winner.

A defensive block from Sen went into the net after a precise smash from Chi, allowing the Taiwanese to regain a two-point cushion, but Sen fought back to 18-18. After a brief setback in a parallel exchange, Chi miscued a net dribble and Sen produced another cross-court smash to earn a game point, then closed out the opening game by winning the following rally.

The second game mirrored the first in intensity, tied at 8-8 before Sen established a three-point margin by the interval. Chi recovered to make it 13-13, but Sen moved ahead to 15-13 with another cross-court smash; the score was soon level at 15-15 and Chi went 17-16 up with a well-timed smash. Sen regained control at 19-17, let a shuttle land out to take two match points, and sealed the victory when Chi's return hit the net.

Srikanth recovered after dropping the first game 18-21 to defeat Rasmus Gemke 18-21, 21-16, 24-22, prevailing in a contest that lasted an hour and eight minutes. In doubles, Dhruv Rawat and K. Maneesha were beaten 21-16, 14-21, 14-21 by fourth seeds Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei, while Hariharan Amsakarunan and Tanisha Crasto went down 7-21, 9-21 to top seeds Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China.

Sen will compete in the second round of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500, and Srikanth advances to the tournament's round of 16.