India Open: Lakshya Sen goes down to Rasmus Gemke after intense battle; India’s challenge ends in men’s single

India’s
World
No.
1
started
the
game
on
a
bright
note
as
he
took
the
first
game
with
some
comfort.
However,
World
No.20
Gemke
used
his
experience
to
advantage
by
taking
the
next
two
games
under
pressure
with
a
boisterous
crowd
cheering
against
him.

Lakshya
takes
first
game
with
momentum
gained
in
second
half

The
duo
was
involved
in
a
sea-saw
battle
from
the
first
game
but
Lakshya
Sen
maintained
a
two-point
lead
halfway
at
12-10
with
the
home
crowd
backing
him.
The
21-year-old
shuttler
then
stretched
his
lead
to
17-12
at
a
crucial
juncture
of
the
game
with
his
neatly-placed
returns
and
smashes.

Gemke
then
lost
a
review
as
Sen
made
an
inch-perfect
back-court
return
to
make
it
18-13
and
made
the
best
use
of
the
momentum
gained
by
closing
the
game
21-16.
Gemke
responds
strongly
in
the
second
game.

India
Open
2023:
Satwik-Chirag
pull
out
of
tournament
due
to
injury

Gemke,
however,
was
not
in
a
mood
to
surrender
as
he
came
back
strong
in
the
second
game
by
killing
off
point
quickly
to
take
a
6-3
lead
early
on.
Lakshya
made
a
sincere
effort
to
close
the
lead
as
he
dominated
the
rallies
but
Gemke
went
into
the
halfway
stage
with
an
11-9
lead.

Gemke
then
picked
three
quick
points
to
stretch
his
lead
but
Lakshya
reacted
with
a
powerful
smash
to
cut
down
the
gap
to
10-14.
The
Danish
continued
to
draw
Lakshya
closer
to
the
net
and
the
strategy
worked
in
his
favour
as
he
opened
a
huge
gap
of
12-19.

Lakshya
reacted
with
two
consecutive
smashes
to
keep
himself
in
the
game
but
Gemke
eventually
took
the
game
21-15
to
force
the
game
into
the
third
and
decisive
game.

Gemke
makes
most
of
error-prone
Lakshya
at
India
Open

Gemke
took
the
momentum
forward
from
the
last
game
by
quickly
taking
3-0
lead
in
the
decider
as
Lakshya
committed
a
few
unforced
errors.
Gemke
made
the
most
of
Sen’s
lost
focus
as
he
opened
a
six-point
lead
to
7-1.

Lakshya
then
earned
two
consecutive
points
to
get
the
crowd
on
their
feet
again
and
the
Indian
soon
cut
down
the
gap
to
5-8
before
his
Danish
rival
responded
with
a
smash
on
his
body.

The
battle
got
intense
from
this
point
onwards
as
the
duo
was
involved
in
some
long
rallies.
Sen,
however,
made
a
couple
of
errors
on
the
smash
again
to
head
into
the
halfway
stage
of
the
game
trailing
7-11.

Gemke
pulled
a
further
gap
after
the
break
as
he
stretched
his
lead
by
two
points
quickly
to
make
it
13-7.

Sen,
however,
never
surrendered
and
with
the
crowd
getting
boisterous
with
every
point
he
picked,
the
home
favourite
closed
down
the
gap
to
13-14
to
keep
the
game
wide
open.

The
long
rallies
only
got
intense
from
this
point
onwards
with
Gemke
dominating
them.
However,
Lakshya
remained
adamant
and
patiently
kept
the
game
open
at
18-19.

Gemke
had
his
slice
of
luck
at
this
point
as
his
smash
landed
on
Lakshya’s
court
after
rubbing
the
net.
Gemke
then
took
the
match-winning
point
after
a
long
and
intense
rally
as
Lakshya’a
back-handed
return
landed
outside
the
backcourt.