Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought hard before going down in three games against reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China in the men's singles semifinals of the U.S. Open badminton tournament.
A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Lakshya, seeded third here, lost 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 against second-seed Feng in a gruelling last-four match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes in the BWF Super 300 event on Saturday night.
It was a close fight between world No. 7 Feng and Lakshya, ranked 12th, in the opening game till 17 points before the Chinese surged ahead with aggressive play as the Indian committed some unforced errors to take the lead.
