Lakshya Sen ran into the steadiness of Jonatan Christie and his defence proved inadequate against the straight-stinging smashing of the Indonesian as the Indian lost 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 in the Japan Open Super 750 semifinals.
Neither was Sen’s net game particularly sharp on the day nor could his smashes pierce Christie’s defence as he went down in 68 minutes. Christie, on the other hand, found a bunch of winners, smashing into Sen’s body and finding an accurate angle to his forehand to win the match in 68 minutes.
Sen is known for his reflex defence, but World No 9 Christie worked up tough angles for him to parry and the relentless retrieving proved to be too crowding and exhausting when the match went into the third. Earlier playing a cross game, Sen had forced Christie to hit wide off the sidelines as the Indian took an 11-9 lead at the first interval. But immediately after, Christie forced a lift and smashed from the net to Sen’s feet.
Engaging Sen in tight dribbles at the net, Christie drew out lifts and forced errors as he levelled matters. An accurate drop gave Christie the lead at 12-13, and he didn’t look behind the post that in the opener. The Indonesian would increase the lead to 4 points when Sen returned a serve into the net.
Christie had begun to show his skill as the rallies got longer. He is great at varying the pace within a rally, slowing it down with lifts and tosses and clears to the backcourt, and then suddenly accelerating with a net charge, and one such winner gave him set point at 20-15. His blitz winner after a dawdling, lulling rally gave him the opener at 21-15.
Sen started the second with a perfect lift and went 2-0 with a smash to Christie’s forehand. It’s when Sen played his best attack, stationed at midcourt and working the shuttle around at a fast clip.
There were fast exchanges Sen won as Christie hit wide, and the Indian attacked the short lifts and smashed with flat, short angles from the net to go 11-4 up with 6 straight points. Flat exchanges often ended with the Indonesian hitting into the net. While the confidence burst lasted, Sen’s overhead smashes clicked as he went on to level the set scores.
Christie had the better defence – he is compact and can transition to attack within seconds, and he would start with a 1-3 lead in the decider. Sen’s reflex swat defence winner would make an appearance soon after, but as the rallies prolonged, Christie was more on the money with his kill shot, while Sen smashed wide. Christie is also good at finding the lines under pressure and reached 9-6 with a winner on the sideline. Two unreturnable smashes at 10-7 and 11-7 gave Christie the lead at the interval, as Sen’s usually-dependable defence came undone against the reigning Asian Games champion’s stick smash.
Sen would sneak in a couple of winners to the backline to reach 9-12, but Christie kept smashing to the body which Sen found difficult to defend as the Indonesian kept a tight hold on the 4-point lead. With the pressure mounting, Sen was hitting wildly, and his reflex swat would go out too. Christie’s smash held a higher percentage of success, and he would force a lift and smash down again to win 21-16.
The Indonesian was playing a tournament semifinal after six months and has been playing limited events on the circuit. With this win, he increases his head-to-head record to 2-1. Sen goes back to the drawing board ahead of the World Championships.