India's ace shuttler Lakshya Sen and rising talent Tharun Mannepalli have rolled into the men’s singles semifinals of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday, August 1, after pulling off hard-fought victories respectively.
Lakshya Sen, Tharun Mannepalli in Macau Open's semifinals
In the men's singles quarterfinals, India's Mannepalli, ranked 47th in the world, secured a hard-fought victory against China's Hu Zhe. The 23-year-old displayed impressive speed and a diverse range of shots to win the 75-minute match with a final score of 21-12, 13-21, 21-18. This win marks Mannepalli's first-ever semi-final appearance at a BWF Super 300 event, an improvement on his quarterfinal finish at the German Open in February.
Joining him in the semi-finals is fellow countryman and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Lakshya Sen. As the second seed, Lakshya faced a tough challenge from China's Xuan Chen Zhu but ultimately prevailed with a 21-14, 18-21, 21-14 victory in a match lasting just over an hour.
Looking ahead, Lakshya will now face Indonesia's fifth seed Alwi Farhan, while Mannepalli will go up against Justin Hoh of Malaysia in their respective semi-final clashes.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bow out
However, it wasn't a clean sweep for the Indian contingent. The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were knocked out of the tournament. They lost a close quarterfinal match to the Malaysian duo of Choong Hon Jian and Haikal Muhammad with a final score of 14-21, 21-13, 20-22.
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For the past four years, Mannepalli has been honing his skills at the Pullela Gopichand Academy, with a particular focus on enhancing his fitness, agility, and movement over the last two. His dedication was on full display this week, as he not only secured a spot in the semi-finals but also pulled off a major upset by defeating the top seed, Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, in the quarter-finals. In his match against Hu Zhe, the Indian, who also won a gold at the 37th National Games, came back from an early deficit in the first game to take control and win decisively.
After the first game, Hu responded with increased intensity, dominating the second game and preventing Mannepalli from closing the gap. In the decisive third game, Mannepalli started strong with a 5-0 lead and maintained his advantage. Despite a tense finish where he conceded three points, Mannepalli remained composed. He sealed the victory with a body smash to earn two match points, followed by a precise push to Hu's backhand corner, celebrating his well-earned win.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen faced a challenging match against world number 77 Chen. Lakshya started strong, dominating the first game and building an early lead to secure the win. However, Chen fought back in the second, erasing a significant deficit to push the match to a third game. Lakshya regained his composure in the decider, taking an early 7-1 lead. Although Chen tried to close the gap, Lakshya maintained his advantage and ultimately won the match, securing his spot in the semi-finals.