Defence is the best form of attack and Lakshya Sen proved that with his sharp returns and tactical maturity at the Australian Open, 2025. The 2022 Commonwealth Games champion produced a sensational performance in Sydney’s Quaycentre, outlasting Taiwan’s 2nd seed and World No. 6, Chou Tein-Chen, in a nail-biting semi-final.
After dropping the opening game 17-21, he fought back, showing his exceptional defensive skills to take the next two, 24-22, 21-16. After his 86-minute marathon win, Lakshya will play the summit clash with Japan’s Yushi Tanaka, on Sunday.
Initially, the 24-year-old from Almora looked scrappy in the first game, failing to execute properly and lacking deception. He ended up trailing 6-11 at the mid-game break. After the interval, he made a better effort but fell short.
In the second game, it was a neck-and-neck battle as both players traded points until the interval, with Lakshya leading 11-9. The Indian then took his game to another level, relying more on his defence and trying to push Chen for longer rallies. With multiple diving saves, the Indian continued to fight and led 17-14 at one point.
From there on, he made a few errors in deception and net play, which allowed Chen to claw back and level the scoreline at 17-17. He soon reached match point at 20-17, capitalising on Lakshya’s errors. From that position, Lakshya held his nerve, absorbing the pressure and saved three match points to make it 20-20, with both players committing errors.
At 22-22, Lakshya produced a sensational forehand return, finding a gap to finish a long rally and take the lead. Then, Chen misjudged a shot that went wide outside the court, which in turn, helped his opponent to force a decider.
The final game saw Lakshya dominating from the start, racing to a 6-1 lead and extending it to 11-6 at the interval, setting Chen into longer rallies and making him look rusty and slow. The 35-year-old Taiwanese appeared tired after that and made several errors which helped Lakshya take a 20-12 lead. Chen made a brief comeback before committing a net error while returning the shuttle as Lakshya reached the summit clash of the Super 500 event.
This marked the second final appearance of season 2025 for the 24-year-old Indian. Earlier, he had reached the Hong Kong Open final in September 2025. Incidentally, Lakshya is still searching for his first title of the year. His last title triumph came at the Syed Modi Super 300 in Lucknow.
Follow Revsportz for all sports updates.