Lakshya Sen won the Canada Open Super 500 in Calgary on Sunday after taking the first game. In the second game, she saved four game points. He won the game, which he won 21-18, 22-20 in 50 minutes, by scoring six points in a row to seal the championship. This showed the mental advantage he had over Chinese Li Shifeng throughout the game.
Sen went on to overcome the All England champion after winning the India Open by giving his flat drives more acceleration, snatching every short lift, and hitting some impossibly close strokes to the net.
Sen won the first set with a 6-2 lead, which he resolutely maintained even after Shifeng leveled the score at 15 all. Every time a loose shuttle came Sen’s way, he gave his returns a boost of vigor and showed that he could amass points in a group, creating opportunities for winners. Even though the score was 15 all, Sen promptly launched an attack with three quick points to keep things moving. He had the mental edge over Shifeng after winning the first set in a contest when both players played at a challenging pace of rallies.
Lakshya Sen back with a bang
Sen once reached the All England finals, and it was said that no lead was safe around him at the time. Sen, who scored six points primarily in victories as the Chinese failed to finish the game, poked fun at Shifeng’s 20-16 lead in the second quarter. This is a definite sign that Sen is prepared to refocus.
Sen’s tactics to attain victory
Sen first forced Shifeng to make infrequent line mistakes before hitting his own winners to take the lead and earn Championship points, which he successfully converted.
“At 20-16, Lakshya didn’t give up. He has won the first game and can now play the decider, and it is so simple to fall into that mindset. But as his coach, I persisted in addressing each point in turn. Given his physical condition, he would have been fine if it had gone to the third as well, according to coach Anup Sridhar.
Li Shifeng frequently used a backhand net that was “almost of Taufik level” to mislead Sen into soft, short lifts for kills while enticing him into flat exchanges. Sen was able to dodge it precisely at that point (20-16) and put his lifts higher and farther back, which was significant. But it was crucial that he did not exhale in relief once the score was tied at 20, as he would have become discouraged if he had gone on to lose the game. He won the match by sending the lifts higher during the final two long rallies, according to Anup.
He also discovered excellent opportunities at the net, where he could smash. Despite the limited taps, his control at the net was good on the day. Sen made fantastic use of the overhead down the line smash, which appears to be a new weapon in his armory. And a couple forehands that were redirected into Shifeng’s body on that particular day were effective. “It’s a combination of being mentally and physically fit that he could remain calm even when things got close,” Anup said.
Shifeng had just recently lost to Sen 15, 16, and thoughts of that defeat undoubtedly contributed to the Chinese’s collapse at the end of the second set. But it was Sen’s genius in moving those lifts back that allowed Shifeng to be captured at the perfect time.
