Lakshya Sen stuns top seed Viktor Axelsen for first time to storm into German Open final

It was fifth time lucky for Lakshya Sen. After four defeats to Viktor Axelsen, Lakshya finally broke the jinx, storming into the German Open final in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany on Saturday with a stunning victory over the Olympic Champion.

In an exciting men’s singles semifinal, Lakshya Sen squeezed past Denmark’s Axelsen 21-13, 12-21, 22-20. Unseeded Lakshya needed an hour and 10 minutes to topple top seed Axelsen in a pulsating outing at the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament.

World No. 12 Lakshya had not even won a single game against the current World No.1 in their previous four encounters.

However, the 20-year-old Indian settled the scores on Saturday with a scintillating performance against the Danish ace.

Showing amazing speed on the court, the Indian ace shocked world No. 1 Axelsen, who had no answer to his opponent’s inspiring display.

Lakshya faced Axelsen for the first time at the All England Open just before the pandemic began in 2020.

Last year, Lakshya had crashed to three defeats to Axelsen in a span of just a couple of months.

After losing to Axelsen at the Denmark Open in October 2021, the Indian star endured two more defeats to the Dane at the BWF World Tour Finals, once each in the group stage and semifinals.

On Saturday, Lakshya finally ended his four-match losing streak, exacting sweet revenge against the tall and lanky Axelsen.

Lakshya was off to a flying start in the semifinals

World Championships bronze medalist Lakshya got off to a flying start in the semis. The Almora youngster took the lead from the start and put Axelsen on the backfoot straightaway.

The Almora native outpaced Axelsen with a very aggressive style of play and wrapped up the opening game quite comfortably at 21-13.

The Indian ace, a trainee at Bengaluru-based Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, maintained the tempo in the second game too and raced to a 8-3 lead. Axelsen then grabbed three points in a row to reduce the deficit.

The tall Dane soon caught up with India Open champion Lakshya and went ahead at 11-9 at the break.

Axelsen went all out on attack and captured 14 of the last 17 points to move 17-11 ahead. He continued in the same way and claimed the second game 21-12 to force the decider.

The third and deciding game tested the fitness and temperament of both the players.

There were several long rallies as both were attacking and defending quite well. With the scores tied at 5-5, Axelsen took the initiative and jumped to a three-point lead and it was 11-8 to him at the break.

After a mandatory change of ends, Lakshya continued to trail as Axelsen extended his lead to six points (15-9). Axelsen kept pushing hard and was up 17-14 before taking another step towards the final with a solid 19-15 lead.

However, the Indian ace did not give up. The gutsy Indian first leveled the scores at 19-all with a four-point burst and went ahead for the first time in the decider with another point.

But Axelsen saved a match point to draw level 20-all. Lakshya then reeled off two quick points to clinch the game and match 22-20.

Lakshya sets up title clash against Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand

Lakshya will face Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the final on Sunday. Vitidsarn shocked fifth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-13, 21-12 in 43 minutes in another semifinal.

So far, the head-to-head record between the Indian and world No. 20 Vitidsarn is 3-3. In their last meeting at the 2021 Hylo Open, Lakshya had edged out Thai Vitidsarn in three games.