Birmingham, March 7 Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run and kept India's hopes alive at the All England Open, stunning China's world No. 6 Li Shi Feng in straight games to reach the semifinals here.
The world No. 12 Indian, who was a finalist here in 2022, defeated Li 21-13, 21-16 in the men's singles quarterfinal on Friday at the Utilita Arena.
The win was also a sweet victory for Lakshya, who had lost to the same opponent at the quarterfinal stage of the 2025 edition.
Lakshya dominated the first game and built a comfortable lead before Li attempted a comeback in the middle.
However, Lakshya stepped up his attack to convincingly win the game.
The second game saw a closer contest with both players trading points in the early exchanges.
Lakshya maintained a slender lead at the mid-game interval and then pulled away in the closing stages to secure the match.
The victory also improved Lakshya's head-to-head record against Li Shi Feng to eight wins in 15 matches.
Lakshya, the top-ranked Indian badminton player who also reached the semifinals here in 2024, is now the only Indian remaining in the competition this year.
He had earlier stunned world No. 1 and defending champion Shi Yuqi in the opening round.
He will face Canada's world No. 16 Victor Lai in the semifinals.
The other Indian players were eliminated earlier in the week. The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in the first round, while Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda also lost in the opening round of women's singles.
Two-time Olympian PV Sindhu had withdrawn from the tournament after failing to reach Birmingham due to travel disruptions in the Middle East, while the mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila retired from their match on Thursday.
