Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen, last year’s Australian Open champion, stunned China Open runner-up Toma Junior Popov in the Hylo Open semifinals to book his place in just his second final of the season.
After battling past Finland’s Kalle Koljonen 14-21, 21-17, 21-13 on Friday, Lakshya produced a much more dominant performance against Popov, sealing a 21-17, 21-13 win.
The matchup was finely balanced, with Lakshya and Popov locked at 2-2 in their head-to-head record before the semifinal. The Frenchman had won their most recent meeting in straight games at the 2025 China Open.
Lakshya needed just a year to exact revenge, stunning Popov and dashing his hopes of bagging a second Hylo Open title.
Lakshya will next take on either top seed Anders Antonsen
or fourth seed Jonatan Christie in the title clash.
Meanwhile, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu continued her brilliant run after last week’s runner-up finish at the French Open, cruising to a 21-13, 21-16 victory over compatriot Anmol Kharb in an all-Indian semifinal to reach her second successive final.
Sindhu will face Denmark’s eighth seed, Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt, in the final.
At 19, Anmol was featuring in just her second Super 500 semifinal, having reached the last four of the Arctic Open in 2025.
Sindhu and Anmol had met just once before, at the 2024 Syed Modi India International, where the two-time Olympic medallist bagged a straight-games win against her young compatriot.
Saturday, October 31, followed a similar script, with Sindhu’s attacking play, sharp net work and varied stroke-making keeping Anmol, a member of India’s gold medal-winning team at the 2024 Asia Team Championships, from putting her illustrious compatriot under any real pressure.
Sindhu struggled to read Anmol’s deep tosses, allowing the 19-year-old to open up a 4-2 lead in the first game. The latter also produced a fine cross-court drop but lacked the consistency to sustain the pressure on her more experienced opponent.
(With PTI Inputs)
