Australian Open 2025 Badminton: Lakshya Sen beats Ayush Shetty to enter semifinals

World championship bronze-medallist shuttler Lakshya Sen overcame a resolute Ayush Shetty in straight games to secure a place in the men’s singles semifinals at the Australian Open Super 500 tournament here on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Indian, who had beaten Ayush at the same stage in Hong Kong Open earlier this year, won 23-21, 21-11 to set up a last-four clash against Chinese-Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, the second-seed in the event.

Tien Chen, ranked No. 9 in the world and a 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, overcame Farhan Alwi 13-21, 23-21, 21-16 in a match lasting a marathon 1 hour, 23 minutes.

Alwi had defeated Indian stalwart H.S. Prannoy in the round of 16.

Lakshya, 26, who had made it to the Hong Kong Open final but has gone without a title this year, had a tough time beating Ayush in the opening game, with the higher-ranked Indian trailing 6-9 before he won four successive points while trailing 9-10 to take the upper hand at 13-10.

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However, Ayush, the US Open Super 300 champion earlier this year, clawed back to take the lead multiple times in a see-saw battle before levelling it at 21-all when the senior pro finally closed out the opener.

The second game of the 53-minute contest turned out to be a one-sided one, with Lakshya taking an early 6-1 lead, which swelled to 15-7 in no time as Ayush’s challenge wilted.

Lakshya is the only Indian remaining in men’s singles after senior pros Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits on Thursday.

The top-seeded Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who made it to the last eight with an easy win against Chinese Taipei’s Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun, will take on fifth seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri later in the day, hoping to secure a place in the semifinals.

Published on Nov 21, 2025