Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen won his first title of the year as he stormed back into form in some style winning the Canada Open on Sunday, July 9 at Calgary. Sen, who has endured a tough 2023, beat the All England champion Li Shi Feng of China in straight sets as he came from behind having fallen by four points in the second set.
Sen was trailing 16-20 in the second set before he kept his calm and won six points in a row to finally end a title drought. This was Sen's second BWF Super 500 title win after the India Open triumph last year. World No. 19, Sen started the summit clash well and maintained his lead throughout the first set. Shi Feng did challenge him on a couple of occasions but he didn't let advantage slip and eventually won the first set 21-18.
The World No. 10, Shi Feng, however, came back strongly in the second set and was on the verge of making it 1-1 at 16-20 as Sen had fallen behind by just a touch. But Sen wasn't going to let the opportunity slip on the night as he saved four games points to eventually win the second set 22-20 as he fell to the ground. It has been a tough year for the Commonwealth Games champion and it meant a lot to him. Sen quickly gathered himself to soak in the applause as he finally had a world title to his name in 2023.
Sen, who had fallen to world ranking 25 due to bad form and poor health, has slowly gotten his groove back.
After losing in Round of 16 in the All England Championship 2023 and a quarter-finals finish in the Indonesian Masters, Sen lost to Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-final of the Thailand Open last month in June. And the performance in the Canada Open just proves that Sen was building up slowly as his last final appearance came in the All England Open last year when he lost to Victor Axelsen.
With this win, Sen is set to rise up to No. 12 in the world rankings and will next feature in the US Open.
