Lakshya Sen, Tharun Mannepalli in semifinal of Macau Open Super 300

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Lakshya Sen and Tharun Mannepalli secured their spots in the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament's semi-finals after overcoming tough opponents. Mannepalli, displaying impressive form, defeated China's Hu Zhe, while Sen battled to victory against Xuan Chen Zhu. Mannepalli will face Justin Hoh, and Sen is set to clash with Alwi Farhan in the semi-finals.

Badminton star Lakshya Sen and the emerging Tharun Mannepalli will play the men's singles semi-final of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament on Saturday after hard-fought wins in their respective matches on Friday.

23-year-old Mannepali, ranked 47th in the world, outplayed China's Hu Zhe, ranked 87th, 21-12 13-21 21-18 in a 75-minute battle to advance into the semis.

Later in the day, Sen, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and second seed in the ongoing tournament, had to fight hard for his 21-14 18-21 21-14 victory over Xuan Chen Zhu of China in his quarterfinal match that lasted one hour and three minutes.

Lakshya will face fifth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia in the semifinals, while Mannepali will take on Malaysia's Justin Hoh in the last four round.

This is Mannepalli's maiden semi-final appearance at a BWF Super 300 event.

Earlier, he had reached the quarterfinals at the German Open in February.

Mannepalli had joined the Pullela Gopichand Academy four years ago. He has focused on improving his fitness, agility, and movement over the past two years and his work paid dividends as he stunned top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the last eight.

Mannepalli started playing badminton at the age of eight in Khammam, Telangana, before moving to Hyderabad after Class 10 to pursue the sport seriously alongside his studies.