Thailand Open Super 500, semifinals as it happened: Lakshya Sen goes down against Kunlavut Vitidsarn
Recap of Lakshya Sen’s semi-final match at the Thailand Open Super 500 event in Bangkok.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-21 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A first semifinal for Lakshya in 2023, a first final will have to wait. Next up, Singapore Open. Thanks for joining us today.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-21 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: And it is a win for Kunlavut. The two good friends share a lovely embrace at the net. All said and done, a good week for Lakshya.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-20 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Terrific defence from KV. Match points.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-19 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Treatment for Lakshya, blood on his knee. Maybe too late for a momentum swing.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-19 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Another clear goes long.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-18 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A decent defensive point by Lakshya but Kunlavut has brought out the big guns.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-17 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A desperate review by Lakshya.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 12-16 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Sen with a soft error, and then smacks one into the net. KV definitely the favourite at this stage.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 11-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Sen seems to have lost the momentum, the shuttle drops long.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 11-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Superb point from both players but KV wins the point with a superb backhand push.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 11-11 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: We are back level again.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 10-11 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A clear to the backcourt from KV goes long and he reviews it unsuccessfully.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 10-9 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A huge roar goes up as Lakshya gets a review wrong, the shuttle has landed plumb on the line.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 10-7 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A smash from Lakshya is into the middle of the net.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 10-6 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A couple of wild misses from KV.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 9-6 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: And Lakshya is now trying to sneak ahead. The crowd is silenced (apart from a small group of Indians)
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 5-5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: And aggression that pays off for LS this time.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 4-5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Aggression from LS but KV keeps returning it and the error comes from the Indian. The Indian is staying in it for now though.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21, 1-4 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A great start to the decider for KV. The crowd are right into this.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-21 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: DECIDER! A run of six straight points for Kunlavut Vitidsarn and he is riding on a wave of crowd support too. What a turnaround, big smiles from the Thai shuttler.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-20 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A backhand error by LS and KV has game points.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-19 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A patient rally but Lakshya sends the shuttle long. Reviews and it is indeed out.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-18 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: And a superb reflex block by KV falls in front of Lakshya.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 17-17 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: A sensational rally goes Lakshya’s way all on his stunning defence. But KV has made it level once again just as the finish line was getting to be in sight for the Indian.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 14-15 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Bad challenge from KV.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 14-14 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Terrific defence from KV but Lakshya eventually gets the point.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 13-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: That backhand touch shot at the net has been really useful for Sen this week and it sets up a really good point for him after another patient rally. We are back level.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 10-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Kunlavut Vitidsarn just edges Lakshya Sen into the lead at the mid-game interval. And comes out of the break with a superb straight smash to Lashya’s backhand. The advantge of hitting into the drift. Lakshya sends one wide now and if he is not careful here, KV will run away with it.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 10-11 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Huge cheers for Kunlavut as it is Lakshya’s turn to net a couple of straightforward shots.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 10-9 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Great defence from Lakshya but really that should have been put away from KV. Bad error at the net.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 9-8 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Neither player playing at their best at the moment.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 7-8 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Crowd getting back into this, superb straight smash from KV.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 7-7 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Sen doing well to test Vitidsarn’s patience. But a couple of short points as I say that and we are level..
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 5-5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Service error from Indian.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 4-4 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Possibly the most patient point from both the shuttlers so far but it is Lakshya’s point in the end as KV sends the shuttle into the net going for a drop winner. A 51-shot rally.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13, 3-3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: KV too likes to play the rally game, stay in the points longer and he will be able to do that better from the far side. Lakshya will need to get his lengths adjusted quickly here. A fine aggressive point by the Indian as I say that.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 21-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Lovely start for Lakshya, the opening game goes to the Indian. KV played with the drift and so he might have more control in game 2. This could still go the distance.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 20-13 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Couple of soft errors from KV and a bagful of game points for Lakshya.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 16-10 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Lakshya with another backhand pirouette for defence and the error comes soon from Kunlavut.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 14-10 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Patience from Lakshya, after a few aggressive shots went long. And wins the point with KV sending the shuttle long.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 12-10 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: From 12-6, Lakshya’s lead is now down to 12-10. Kunlavut on the charge.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 11-6 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Lovely kill at the net by Lakshya, couple of smashes followed by a backhand on the turn.
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Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 8-5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Couple of superb points for Kunlavut, lovely straight smash there. But Lakshya replies back in kind.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 7-3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: Good start for Lakshya here. Drawing Kunlavut forward well with his touch-play. The radar too not firing for the Thai shuttler.
Men’s singles SF, Lakshya Sen 2-2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn: “Well, look who’s back,” is the intro Lakshya got from the commentator. Indeed so. It’s been a good week for Lakshya and a welcome return to form. But he has to overcome Kunlavut and the Thailand fans behind him today. Even start here.
Men’s singles, semifinals, Lakshya Sen vs Kunlavut Vitidsarn: They have been meeting each other for a while now, stretching back to 2018 in junior days. Lakshya trails 3-4 in the head-to-head.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Indian badminton.
Today we will be tracking Lakshya Sen’s semi-final match at the Thailand Open Super 500 event in Bangkok. Sen continued his run of good performances in Bangkok as he got the better of Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia in straight games 21-19, 21-11 in the quarterfinals.
Sen will face Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semifinals today. A familiar face for the Indian from his junior days.
(For the purposes of this blog, we will use KV for Kunlavut Vitidsarn)
Screenshots in the blog courtesy BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software