Disappointed with result, but have level to win tournaments: Lakshya Sen

The fatigue was evident. Lakshya Sen, who went for relentless smashing, found himself wanting against Jonatan Christie's unwavering energy to retrieve almost every smash in a 63-shot rally, the longest in the 68-minute All England Open Badminton Championships men's singles semifinal clash.

Christie eventually took command of the rally with tosses before sealing the winner with a brilliant slow drop shot, with Lakshya gazing at it exhausted.

Lakshya was willing to fight; he would bring a winner with a thunderous 325kph smash to go 5-3 up in the third game, showing signs of carrying on the momentum of his 21-10 win in the second game, but as Christie stomped around the court like a bunny with little sign of losing verve, Lakshya, despite putting his best effort, lost 12-21, 21-10, 15-21 to make his second consecutive semifinal exit.

After the loss against Christie, Lakshya did not shy away from talking about the fatigue factor as one of the reasons behind his exit. In the pre-quarterfinals and quarterfinals, Lakshya played two three-gamers against Anders Antonsen and Lee Zii Jia, spending over two and a half hours at the Utilita Arena.

"All the matches that I have played were really long and I could feel it in the recovery, in the next day’s match preparation,” Lakshya said in the BWF mixed zone.

Lakshya, for the second week in a row, lost in the semifinal. Last week, he went down in the French Open semifinal against Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Across two World Tour events, Lakshya played eight matches and spent more than an hour on the court. Only one of his eight matches ended in straight games.

Lakshya lost the third game against Christie after making a brisk start, winning a few quick points. Once Christie fought back, Lakshya dried out of winners as the Indonesian world no. 9 penetrated Lakshya's defence frequently.

“Some matches, I started really slow in the first game, even having a good lead and then not being able to convert those first-setters that then went on to three games. I won some of those but I know this is one thing that I want to improve: close matches in two games. So that I’m a bit fresher," he said.

Lakshya was disheartened by the defeats in the semifinals. But he is content with two back-to-back last-four finishes after more than a year.

"As of now, I’m pretty disappointed with the result. But overall, the way I played the last two weeks, surely I have the level to be up there and win in the big tournaments,” Lakshya said.

With two good results, after a series of first and second-round exits, Lakshya is motivated to assess his performances. He will seek advice from his coaching panel of Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar to better the game.

“I’ll definitely sit back, and discuss with my coaches, try to analyse the two weeks much better because as of now I was just focusing on the next match after every game. Now it’s time to reflect, and watch those matches again. Take good things and keep learning from the mistakes that happen,” Lakshya added.

The 22-year-old Indian star will be in action at the Swiss Open Super 300 next week.