Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth bow out Hylo Open 2021

Saarbrucken: Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the ongoing Hylo Open as they suffered defeat in their respective semifinal game. 

Lakshya, world number 21 lost the game to 39th ranked Loh Kean Yew who went on to dominate the Indian in both sets 18-21, 12-21. Singaporean shuttlers took 45 minutes to qualify for the finals as he defeated Lakshya in a seemingly one-sided game. This was Former champion Lakshya’s second loss to Loh in three meetings this year.

Lakshya had avenged his Dutch Open final loss to Loh with a straight-game win at the French Open last month.

In the semifinal clash, Loh showed better discipline and precision to return the favour to the Indian.

On the other hand, Srikanth suffered defeat after a bottle-neck battle when he could not register win in any set, losing the game by 19-21, 20-22 to Malaysian second seed Lee Zii Jia.

Srikanth struggled to mark points from the start as the opponent took a 4-0 lead but the Indian shuttler made a comeback with 15-10.

But an alert Lee clawed back soon into the lead and even had two match points. Srikanth drew parity but Lee averted any hiccups and sealed the contest with a cross court return.