Lakshya Sen returned to top form in a titanic manner by winning the Australian Open Super 500 title on Sunday and thus breaking his lean period on the international badminton circuit. The 24-year-old Indian ace defeated Japan’s Yushi Tanaka 21-15 21-11 in a very dominant performance of only 38 minutes to claim his first BWF title of the 2025 season.
The win was a major comeback for Lakshya who had been in a slump after finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics. The Indian shuttler outplayed world No. 26 Tanaka, a recent winner of the Orléans Masters and US Open Super 300 titles, with his shots being on point throughout.
An emotional win Lakshya celebrated with a gesture of putting his fingers in his ears which is a way of indicating ignoring criticism and pressure from a tough year.
A Breakthrough That Was Long Overdue
Just before this victory, his only other BWF World Tour title was the Canada Open (Super 500) in 2024 and in the same year, he had also won the Syed Modi India International (Super 300). In September, when he was a runner-up at the Hong Kong Super 500, was the second time he came closest to winning.
The win at the Australian Open is Lakshya’s only second BWF World Tour title in 2025, thus, making him the second Indian player after Ayush Shetty who won the US Open Super 300.
The way it ended
Lakshya started strong and was able to make most of Tanaka’s early unforced mistakes which allowed him to move 6-3 ahead. The Indian’s tight net play and precise flat drives meant he went into the interval with a three-point cushion.
With a strong Indian crowd chanting his name, Lakshya extended the lead, forcing Tanaka into repeated mistakes. He only won the first set easily and kept dominating the second one.
In the attempt to extend Lakshya, Tanaka was hitting his signature whipping smashes, but the Indian showed a great sense of anticipation to counter with clever placements and then he finished with a blazing cross-court winners. And this is the point where, due to Tanaka’s over-attacking and more errors, Lakshya’s relentless pressure was resulting in him making more mistakes.
Continuing to destroy with a barrage of smashes and almost perfect backline judgment, Lakshya went up 19-8, grabbed 10 match points, and sealed the title with a sharp cross-court return.
A Week of Confidence, A Season of Revival
This win not only ends Lakshya’s dry spell but also re-establishes him as a major force on the World Tour. After close misses of Indian stars such as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy–Chirag Shetty and Kidambi Srikanth this season, a victory from Lakshya adds a much-needed boost to Indian badminton. This places the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in good stead to build on this momentum as the season goes on.
