Lakshya Sen books place in Hong Kong Open final with dominant victory over Chou Tien Chen

India's Lakshya Sen totally outclassed Chinese Taipei shuttler Chou Tien Chen 23-21, 22-20 to storm into the finals of the Hong Kong Open. Both the sides ended up being quite evenly-contested as both players refused to give in and this led to them playing some excellent rallies. However, eventually it was Sen who came out on top and moved into his first final of the 2025 season.

Lakshya had previously defeated Chou in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics as well. However, while that match was decided in the third set, the Indian shuttler managed to wrap up things in the second set only and blaze past the World No.6 in stunning fashion.

ALSO READ: Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty reach Hong Kong Open final with a straight-game win against Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng Kuan

After clinching the first set, Lakshya showed why he is top-ranked male badminton player in India in the second game and bagged five points in a row  in order to emerge victorious over the formidable opponent. Though Chou was on the verge of winning the second game and taking the match into the third set, Lakshya didn't give up and went on to perform brilliantly under pressure.

ALSO READ: Lakshya Sen defeats compatriot Ayush Shetty to book place in semi-finals of Hong Kong Open

Currently ranked 20th in the world, Lakshya had defeated Indian players in his previous two matches in order to make it to the semi-finals. Both H.S. Prannoy and Ayush Shetty got knocked out of the tournament by Lakshya in the pre-quarter final and quarter-final respectively. Though the top-ranked Indian shuttler certainly hasn't had an easy road to the final, his biggest test will definitely come in the penultimate game. Sen is set to face-off against China's Li Shi Feng in the final, who made it to the stage after defeating Christo Popov 21-18, 21-19 in the other semifinal.

Satwik-Chirag into the final as well

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the final by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng Kuan 21-17, 21-15 in what was a rather one-sided match. Notably, Satwik-Chirag had lost their previous 6 semi-finals, so this win will definitely mean a lot for them. They will now be facing familiar foes Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China in the final. It remains to be seen if both them and Lakshya will be able to win their penultimate matches or not.