India’s Lakshya Sen stormed into his second consecutive men’s singles final with a stunning three-game win over world No. 10 Alwi Farhan of Indonesia at the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament.
World No. 13 Lakshya, who won the Hylo Open title, brightened his chances of qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou after reaching the final with a 21-12, 15-21, 21-11 win over sixth seed Farhan.
Eighth seed Lakshya, who is currently 12th in the BWF World Tour rankings with 64,980 points, needs to break into the top 8 to qualify for the season-ending event. He will face the winner of the other semifinal between Koki Watanabe of Japan and second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
A title win at the Super 500 event will earn Lakshya 9,200 points, while a runner-up finish will fetch him 7,800 points. Either result should take him into the top eight of the BWF World Tour rankings. However, with the Hong Kong Open Super 500 and Syed Modi International Super 300 events left, there could be some changes to the standings. Lakshya had lost both his previous meetings with Farhan without managing to take a single game off the Indonesian. But he turned the tables on Saturday. Farhan prefers a high-tempo, aggressive style rather than grinding through extended rallies, and Lakshya had the right strategy to counter him. The Indian focused on constructing rallies patiently and waiting for the right opportunity to attack.