KUMAMOTO: A tenacious Lakshya Sen continued his remarkable run on the BWF Tour, clinching his second consecutive title with a thrilling victory over home favourite Koki Watanabe in the final of the Kumamoto Masters Japan here on Sunday.
World No. 13 Lakshya displayed his mental grit as he outsmarted Watanabe, ranked two places below him, 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in a pulsating summit clash that lasted 64 minutes.
He had won the Hylo Open title last week and the triumph in Japan has propelled the Indian into a qualifying position for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.
"It feels very good to win a title here and last year, I played the semifinals. I'm happy that I could better the results from last time and yeah, it's my second title back to back. I would love to continue this form ahead," the 25-year-old from Almora said.
Asked what the key was, Lakshya said: "Just keeping my confidence up, even though it has been tough matches. I started with a game down in many matches, but yeah, it was really good of me that I still kept believing in myself and just kept on playing and fighting."
Eighth seed Lakshya was 12th in the Race to Finals standings with 64,980 points before this event and needed to break into the top eight to qualify for the season-ending event.
The title at the Super 500 event earned Lakshya 9,200 points, which will lift him to sixth place in the standings with 74,180 points when they are updated on Tuesday.
However, the race to Hangzhou is not over yet, as the Hong Kong Open (November 17-22) is the last qualifying event.
"Definitely that is one thing which we will be fighting for and yes, this tournament will definitely help me get good points for that as well. Now I have one more tournament, the Hong Kong Open, so now focused on that."
Coming into the final, Lakshya held a 3-2 lead over Watanabe in their career head-to-head, although the Japanese had won their last two meetings.
Watanabe opened up a 3-0 lead, with Lakshya looking a tad laid-back initially. The Japanese nailed his smashes to perfection, varying the pace. He repeatedly produced straight down-the-line smashes on Lakshya's forehand side to move to 6-1. Lakshya cut the deficit to 5-8.
A judgment error and then a wide return made it 5-10. An angled smash from the Indian was followed by a net error as Watanabe took a five-point advantage into the break.
On resumption, Lakshya fought his way back to 10-12, with the Indian producing a straight smash and a defensive block. Another superb return of serve helped him close the gap to 11-12.
The Indian dived to save a point, only to send the shuttle long. Another shot going long took Watanabe to a 15-11 lead.
Watanabe looked in control as he continued to find winners to establish a six-point lead at 18-12. The Japanese soon grabbed eight game points with another straight return. The Indian saved one before going wide.
A change of ends brought a change of fortune as Lakshya surged to a 5-0 lead. The Indian took control of the net and didn't allow his opponent to find his way.
He pounced on a loose net shot, and a net error from his opponent helped him maintain his 5-0 lead. A perfect cross-court smash earned him a five-point lead at the break.
Despite a few errors, Lakshya's quick racquet speed helped him maintain his lead at 15-10. Watanabe also committed several errors, hitting wide and into the net, to leave the Indian three points away from forcing a decider.
The Japanese fought back from 10-19 to make it 17-19, but Lakshya soon grabbed three game points with a fast push. He sent one shot long before unleashing another thunderous and precise smash to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, a full-stretch dive to produce a defensive block gave Lakshya a 2-1 lead as the two played some fascinating rallies.
The rallies grew tighter and the score remained close as the two battled hard to take control.
From 3-3, Lakshya opened up a 9-6 lead before producing another pinpoint smash. The Indian took a four-point cushion at the interval after a push that seemed to be going wide managed to find its spot.
Two brutal smashes extended Lakshya's lead to 13-7. Attack was the word as Lakshya kept producing attacking returns to leave his opponent dazed.
Another steep winner towards his opponent's backhand, followed by another lethal smash, took him to 16-7, leaving the local fans silent.
From 7-17, Watanabe again fought back to 13-19 before Lakshya found two perfect returns to earn seven match points. He sealed the match on the second occasion with another cross-court winner.