Lakshya Sen in Dutch Open semis

Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen sailed into the men's singles semi-finals with a straight-games victory over compatriot B M Rahul Bharadwaj at the Dutch Open Super 100 tournament, in Almere, the Netherlands, on Friday.

The 18-year-old from Almora, who clinched the Belgian Open last month, beat Bharadwaj 21-9, 21-16 in 37 minutes.

Lakshya, who won the Asian Junior Championship, a silver at the Youth Olympic Games and a bronze medal at World Junior Championships last year, will take on Felix Burestedt of Sweden next.

The Swede got the better of Russia Sergey Serant 21-11, 22-20 in 46 minutes.

He led 6-0 and then extended it to 11-3 at the break. He continued in the same vein, reeling off six straight points at 13-8 to move to 18-8 and pocket the game comfortably.

In the second, Bharadwaj opened up a 4-2 lead but Lakshya caught up and surged to 11-6 at the break.

Bharadwaj tried to stage a comeback but Lakshya kept his nose ahead to eventually shut the door on his opponent.