World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen showed nerves of steel as he stunned defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia to book a maiden final berth in the All England Badminton Championships here on Saturday.

Sen, 20, became only the fourth men’s singles player after Prakash Nath, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand to reach the final after outwitting Lee 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in a gruelling semi-final match that lasted one hour and16 minutes.