Macau Open: Lakshya, Mannepalli enter semifinals; Satwik-Chirag out

Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen and promising Tharun Mannepalli advanced to the men’s singles semifinals of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament 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, Lakshya, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and second seed here, eked out a tough 21-14 18-21 21-14 victory over Xuan Chen Zhu of China in his quarterfinal that lasted one hour and three minutes.

Lakshya will be up against fifth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia while Mannepalli will take on Malaysia’s Justin Hoh in the last-four round.

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 eight.

The Indian, who won gold at the 37th National Games, was trailing 4-7 in the first game before rallying to 12-9. He then took control and scored six straight points from 15-11 to seal the game.

After the change of ends, Hu played with greater intent, leading 6-2 and extending the lead to 15-6. Mannepalli couldn’t close the gap as the Chinese player dominated the second game.

In the decider, Mannepalli surged to a 5-0 lead and maintained a healthy advantage up to 19-15. It got tense towards finish as he squandered three points, with Hu sending two returns on his forehand corner. However, Mannepalli stayed composed and landed a timely body smash to earn two match points. He secured the win with a precise push to Hu’s backhand corner and raised his arms in celebration.

Mannepalli started playing badminton at the age of eight in Khammam, Telangana, before moving to Hyderabad after Class X to pursue the sport seriously alongside his studies.

Lakshya had to work hard to get past world number 77 Chen.

The Indian produced a dominating show in the opening game, building on an early 9-4 lead to quickly move to 15-8 and pocketing the game.

However, Chen made a spirited comeback in the second game, erasing a 5-10 and 14-17 deficit to take the match to the decider.

Lakshya got back his bearing in the third game, surging to 7-1 early on and even though Chen made it 9-11, the Indian managed to stay ahead to come up trumps.