Canada Open: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen storm into semi-finals

Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen continued their winning run to advance to the semi-finals of the Canada Open 2023 late on Friday night.

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu dominated against Gao Fang Jie of China to register a win in straight games, 21-13, 21-7, to win her quarter-final tie.

Sindhu started the first game well with a 5-1 lead early courtesy of her trademark smashes and drops that troubled the Chinese shuttler.

With her quick feet and good court coverage, Sindhu forced quite some errors from Gao and finished the game with two whipping winners to win 21-13.

Gao started with a 5-3 lead in the second game, but Sindhu quickly turned things around, reaching 11-5 at the mid-game interval.

Post interval, it was mostly Sindhu who scored the point as she dominated the rallies to take crucial points. Gao struggled with her knee and called for medical attention twice.

While the Chinese missed the lines most of the time, Sindhu managed to stay composed and win the second game 21-7 to close the tie.

Sindhu will now face world number one Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, against whom she lost in the Singapore Open this year.

Later in the night, Lakshya Sen defeated qualifier Julien Carraggi of Belgium 21-8, 17-21, 21-10 after facing some resistance from the opponent.

Lakshya started well, winning the first game 21-8 with ease, but the Belgian turned it around in the second game and won it 21-17.

It seemed that Lakshya would have to fight in the decider, but the Indian shuttler showed his class to dominate the Belgian and win the game 21-10 to move to the semi-finals.

Lakshya Sen will play against fourth-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto, who is coming off a fine run in the tournament.