Macau: Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen and promising Tharun Mannepalli advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals of the Macau Open Super 300 after registering hard-fought wins here Friday.
Taking the court first, the 23-year-old Mannepalli, ranked 47th in the world, showcased speed and a versatile shot selection to edge out China’s 87th ranked Hu Zhe 21-12 13-21 21-18 in a 75-minute battle.
Later in the day, second-seeded Lakshya eked out a tough 21-14 18-21 21-14 victory over Zhu Xuan Chen of China in his quarterfinal that lasted an hour and 3 minutes.
This marks Mannepalli’s maiden semi-final appearance at a BWF Super 300 event. He had reached the quarterfinals at the German Open in February.
However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the tournament after losing 14-21 21-13 20-22 to Malaysian combination of Choong Hon Jian and Haikal Muhammad in the quarterfinals.
Mannepalli, who joined the Pullela Gopichand Academy four years ago, has focused on improving his fitness, agility, and movement over the past two years. His hard work paid off this week as he also stunned top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the last-8.