New Delhi, Aug. 26 -- Lakshya Sen and Shi Yu Qi entered the Adidas Arena together on Monday but their walk to the court was in total contrast. Having won nine successive finals on the tour since January 2024, the Chinese world No.1 exuded confidence. His fantastic run this year has already yielded him four titles - Malaysia Open, All England Open, Japan Open and China Open.

Lakshya, following him into the 8,000-seater arena in Paris, had endured a poor run with 11 losses in 19 outings this season. To make matters worse, he ran into the men's top seed in the BWF World Championships opener. The result, expectedly, went in favour of Shi, who won for the fourth time in five meetings against Lakshya, 21-17, 21-19 in 54 minutes.

The lightning...