Lakshya Sen into Kumamoto Masters final after beating Alwi Farhan

Lakshya Sen has reached the final of the Kumamoto Masters Japan, a BWF Super 500 badminton tournament, beating Indonesia's Alwi Farhan 21-12, 15-21, 21-11 in the men's singles semi-final on Saturday (14 November). It is his second straight final, after he won the Hylo Open in Germany. He will face Japan's Koki Watanabe in the final on Sunday (15 November).

Sen, the eighth seed and world No. 13, had lost both of his earlier meetings with the sixth-seeded Farhan, the world No. 10, without taking a game. This time he won the first game comfortably, lost the second after a 57-shot rally early on had gone his way, and then took control of the decider, leading 11-6 at the interval and finishing with ten match points.

The Indian Express wrote that Sen used a flat, fast, doubles-style drive game to blunt Farhan's height and power. In the third game, Farhan took a medical timeout over a bleeding finger when he trailed 8-5, according to The Economic Times.

Watanabe reached his second final of the year by beating Thailand's second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn 14-21, 21-11, 23-21 in the other semi-final, saving a match point before winning on his second chance, the BWF said.

The final also matters for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China. Sen is 12th in the BWF World Tour rankings with 64,980 points and needs to break into the top eight, The Times of India reported. The Hong Kong Open Super 500 is next week.

"Tomorrow I will play with a free mindset, and I won't be thinking of the result," Sen said, according to the BWF.