Sydney

A fast and fluent Lakshya Sen ended a difficult stretch on the international circuit by clinching his first title of the season, defeating Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in the men’s singles final of the USD 475,000 Australian Open Super 500 here on Sunday.

The 24-year-old from Almora, who had endured a tough phase after finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics, capped a resurgent week with a commanding performance, outplaying the 26-year-old Tanaka 21-15 21-11 in 38 minutes and celebrated the win by putting his fingers in his ears.

Lakshya, a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, had last won a Super 300 title at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in 2024. However, a top-tier crown had eluded him since his triumph at the Canada Open that same year, though he came close at the Hong Kong Super 500 in September when he finished runner-up.

Facing world No. 26 Tanaka, winner of two Super 300 titles this year at the Orléans Masters and the US Open, Lakshya displayed crisp control, sharp placement and clean execution to wrap up the contest without dropping a game.

With this victory, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, became only the second Indian to win a BWF World Tour title this season, following Ayush Shetty’s maiden Super 300 triumph at the US Open.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had reached the finals at the Hong Kong and China Masters, while Kidambi Srikanth also logged a runner-up finish at the Malaysia Masters earlier in the year.

Lakshya made a confident start, opening up a 6-3 lead as Tanaka committed a flurry of errors -- hitting into the net, going wide and overcooking his lifts. A 35-shot rally ended with the Japanese shuttler again finding the net, before a lucky net cord finally broke Lakshya’s run of points.

Two crisp cross-court smashes on either flank had Lakshya on the floor as Tanaka closed the gap to 7-9, but the Indian carried a three-point cushion into the mid-game interval after the Japanese sprayed another shot into the net.

Chants of “Lakshya! Lakshya!” rang around the arena during the mid-game intervals, with a sizeable Indian crowd turning up to support him.

The Indian tightened his grip thereafter, dominating the net exchanges and keeping the shuttle flat and deep, denying Tanaka the length he needed to unleash his whipping smashes as he moved ahead 13-9.

Tanaka responded with a powerful smash, followed by a long error from Lakshya and a sharp net shot to make it 12-13. But Lakshya again pulled away, opening up a four-point lead at 17-13 with a backhand smash and another fierce cross-court winner.

Tanaka tried to stay in the hunt but two long errors handed Lakshya five game points. The Indian converted immediately as Tanaka drove another shuttle into the net.

The second game turned into a one-sided affair as Lakshya kept up the intensity, continuing to play fast, flat returns even as Tanaka tried stretching him with his trademark whipping smashes but those were far too few to pose any challenge.

The Japanese overdid his attack and his inconsistency overshadowed his moments of brilliance as Lakshya moved ahead 8-4.

A flat cross-court drive pushed Lakshya to 10-5, and he secured a six-point lead at the interval with another thunderous smash.

Lakshya showed excellent backline judgement as Tanaka repeatedly floated the shuttle long. After winning a tight net duel, the Indian extended the lead to 13-6. Tanaka struggled to withstand Lakshya’s power, continuing to hit wide and into the net as the lead swelled to 17-8.

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Lakshya then hammered a barrage of smashes to move to 19-8 and soon earned 10 match points with another fine shot near the net. He squandered one with a net error but sealed the title with a sharp cross-court return.