Lakshya Sen put up a spirited fight before going down in three games to world number 9 and Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie in the semifinals of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Saturday. Sen is known to be faster and to negotiate his speed, Christie needed to produce high-quality shots.

The 21-year-old from Almora bounced back from an opening game reversal to keep his rival under pressure but in the end couldn't get across the fifth-seeded Christie, who rode on his solid defence and quality of shots to eke out a 21-15 13-21 21-16 win.