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India's Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run as he defeated Indonesia's Alwi Farhan in a three-game semifinal to enter his second consecutive men's singles final at the Japan Masters Super 500 tournament on Saturday.
World No. 13 Lakshya registered a 21-12, 15-21, 21-11 victory over world No. 10 and sixth seed Farhan in the semifinal in Kumamoto, strengthening his chances of qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou. Sen recorded his first victory against Farhan, bringing their head-to-head score to 2-1. The Indian shuttler, seeded eighth in the tournament, has been in good form after winning the Hylo Open title. His latest victory takes him into another final as he continues his pursuit of a place in the season-ending tournament. Lakshya is currently placed 12th in the BWF World Tour rankings with 64,980 points. He needs to break into the top eight to secure qualification for the BWF World Tour Finals. In the quaterfinals, Sen recorded a straight-games victory over Japan's Yushi Tanaka on Friday. Lakshya defeated Tanaka 21-16, 21-15 to seal his place in the last four of the tournament. In the final, Lakshya will face the winner of the other semifinal between Japan's Koki Watanabe and Thailand's second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The Indian will look to carry his winning momentum into the title clash as he aims for another tournament triumph following his success at the Hylo Open. Meanwhile, India's Kidambi Srikanth had bowed out of the tournament after suffering a straight-games defeat against Japan's Koki Watanabe in the quarterfinals. Srikanth went down 22-24, 15-21 in a closely contested opening game before Watanabe secured the second game to seal his place in the semifinals. (ANI)
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