Lakshya Sen will face a tough challenge at the Li-Ning China Masters 2023 when he takes on World No. 7 Shi Yu Qi in the first round in Shenzen, China, on Wednesday, November 22.
Sen is coming off a first-round defeat at the Japan Masters last week to World No. 5 Kodai Naraoka. The Commonwealth Games champion is currently in a slump, having suffered first-round exits in his last four appearances on the BWF World Tour.
Needless to say, the World No. 17 has to raise his game if he wants to snap his losing streak at the ongoing Super 750 event.
China Masters 2023, Lakshya Sen vs Shi Yu Qi: Head-to-head and Prediction
Sen and Shi Yu Qi have never met on the tour before, hence their head-to-head record is currently tied at 0-0.
China's Shi Yu Qi has accomplished quite a lot on the badminton circuit as evident from his career-high world ranking of No. 2. He was the silver medalist at the BWF World Championships in 2018 and the Asian Championships in 2019.
The 27-year-old has six titles on the BWF World Tour, the last two of which came at the 2022 Australian Open and the 2022 Denmark Open. This season he has made another two finals, at the All England Open in March and the Japan Masters as recently as last week.
Even though he has succumbed to a defeat both times, it shows that Shi Yu Qi has been pretty consistent in 2023, which also saw him winning a men's singles silver medal at the Asian Games.
Sen, on the other hand, had a brilliant mid-season resurgence, winning the Canadian Open title and finishing as a semi-finalist at the US Open and the Japan Open. However, he currently seems to have gone off the boil.
Unless Shi Yu Qi is tired from his Japan Masters exploits, he should be favored to come through this clash.
China Masters 2023, Lakshya Sen vs Shi Yu Qi: Date and time
Lakshya Sen and seventh seed Shi Yu Qi will square off in the men's singles first round at the China Masters 2023 on Wednesday in the ninth match of the day on Court 1 at the Shenzhen Bay Gymnasium.
Date: November 22, 2023
Round: First round (Round of 32)
Time: Approx. 4 pm local time; 1.30 pm IST
Venue: Shenzhen Bay Gymnasium, Shenzen, China
China Masters 2023, Lakshya Sen vs Shi Yu Qi: Where to watch & live streaming details
This China Masters 2023 match will be telecast live in India on the Sports18 1 and Sports18 1 HD channels. Live streaming will be available on YouTube on BWF.TV. Live scores can also be followed on the tournament software.