Indian ace Lakshya Sen advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 Kumamoto Masters Super500 tournament in Kumamoto City, Japan, on Friday.

He defeated former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in just a 40-minute straight-game encounter, 21-13, 21-17, to reach his first semifinal on the Tour after two months.

Currently sitting in 13th place on the World Tour Rankings, this result will help him rise a few spots and might sneak into the 8 available spots if he further extends his run.

He will next take on the home favourite Kenta Nishimoto in the semi-final on Saturday, which will be the sixth meeting between the two players, with Lalshya leading the head-to-head by 3-2.

Lakshya had a dominant start to the match and was commanding the rallies with his aggressive play, comfortably closing the opening game 21-13.

But the second game had a very close start with the scores tied on 9-9 just before the mid-game interval, but then Lakshya won 6 consecutive points to take a massive lead.

However, Loh didn’t lose his hopes and grinded out some tough points to close the deficit to a single point at 17-18, but then Lakshya shifted momentum again to snatch the last three points and win the match.