New Delhi: World championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen progressed to the men's singles summit clash with a thrilling win but it was curtains for two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open here on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Sen rallied his way to a 19-21 21-16 21-12 win over world number 60 Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong to enter his maiden World Tour Super 500 summit clash.
However, there was disappointment in store in women's singles as top seed and home favourite Sindhu lost 14-21 21-13 10-21 to sixth seeded Thai Supanida Katethong.
"I gave her a huge lead from the beginning. In the third game after it was 6-6, I should have taken a few points but she continued to lead. She is a good player. I played at Bali against her, her strokes are deceptive. I should have controlled the shuttles," Sindhu said after the match.
"At that time in Indonesia, my smashes were going to the corner or line but today my tosses and clears were going out or mid court and I was giving her chance to attack. It was just not my day and she played well. I have to work on my mistakes," she added.
Young Aakarshi Kashyap too had a golden chance but she squandered five game points in the opening game to allow Busanan register a 26-24 21-9 win in the other women's singles semifinal.
Sen, seeded third, will face reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash on Sunday in a repeat of Dutch Open final last year.
"It is a good feeling to play my first super 500 final at my home country," said Sen, who had won two Super 100 titles -- Dutch Open and SaarLorLux Open -- besides three international challenge at Belgium, Scotland and Bangladesh in 2019.
"The first game was pretty close, I did some errors which cost me. But I kept my calm in the second and third game and managed to it pull off."
Loh, seeded fifth, was given a walkover in the other semi-finals by Canada's Brian Yang after developing a sore throat and headache.
In the men's doubles, world number 10 pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy cruised to a 21-10 21-18 win over France duo of William Villeger and Fabien Delrue to make it to the finals.
Chirag and Satwik will square off against three-time world champion Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia on Sunday.
In other results, Indian women's doubles pair of Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayan and Ashna Roy lost 12-21 9-21 to fourth seeded Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand.
On Sunday, Sen will be itching to set the record straight after losing the Dutch Open final to Loh. Overall, the duo has a 2-2 head-to-head record with Sen losing two of the last three meetings.
"Both of us are playing well, it will be a good match tomorrow and I am really looking forward to playing him," Sen said about his final clash.
In the men's singles semifinals, both shuttlers showed their attacking prowess during the last-four clash. Sen made his opponent move across the court with his returns and used his smashes to good effect to open up a four-point lead at 10-6 after being 2-4 down initially.
The Indian entered the interval at 11-8 after Yong
went wide.