PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen stormed into the semifinals of the Canada Open on Friday. While Sindhu trounced Gao Fang Jie of China 21-13, 21-7, Sen recovered to oust Belgian qualifier Julien Carraggi 21-8, 17-21, 21-10 in the BWF Super-500 tournament in Calgary, Canada.
The two shuttlers are on a mission to get back into rhythm before next month's World Championships an d Asian Games in September. Lakshya has already knocked out second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the first round and Sindhu registered her first victory against Jie in four meetings.
Since January, Sindhu has competed in 11 tournaments and reached the semifinals thrice while this would be the second semifinal appearance for Lakshya in 12 tournaments.
Sindhu moved swiftly on the court and her retrieving was good. She dominated the rallies and her pace unsettled Jie, who committed a number of unforced errors.
But the real challenge for Sindhu will be her semifinal against world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi. Sindhu enjoys a 14-10 win-loss record against the Japanese top seed.
Second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand reached the final after her semifinal opponent Beiwen Zhang gave her a walkover.
Lakshya will play fourth seed Kenta Nishimoto, who defeated him at the Japanese Open last August. The world No. 11 Japanese defeated Magnus Johannesen of Denmark 21-15, 7-21, 21-14. Kodai Naraoka of Japan will play Li Shi Feng of China in the other semifinal.
