Lakshya Sen Won Three Matches From a Game Down. The Final Needed Only Two.
Lakshya Sen lost the first game three times in a row at the Hylo Open, and won the match all three times. Down 16-21 to Finland’s Joakim Oldorff in the first round, 15-21 to his own compatriot Kiran George in the second, and 14-21 to Finland’s Kalle Koljonen in the quarter-final, he came back to win every one in three games. In the final he never needed a third: 21-17, 21-10 over Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, in 39 minutes, for his first title of the 2026 season.
The Hylo Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500, ran from 27 October to 1 November at the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken. Sen, the seventh seed and currently world No. 14, lifted the trophy for the second time in his career - he first won it in 2019, when the tournament was a Super 100 - and it is his fifth BWF World Tour title overall, his first since the Australian Open in November 2025. On the same Sunday, PV Sindhu won the women’s title without dropping a game all week, giving India both Hylo Open singles trophies.
Round
Opponent
Result
Round of 32
Joakim Oldorff (Finland)
Won 16-21, 21-9, 21-13
Round of 16
Kiran George (India)
Won 15-21, 21-18, 21-12
Quarter-final
Kalle Koljonen (Finland)
Won 14-21, 21-17, 21-13
Semi-final
Toma Junior Popov (France)
Won 21-17, 21-13, in 41 minutes
Final
Jonatan Christie (Indonesia)
Won 21-17, 21-10, in 39 minutes
Lakshya Sen’s route to the Hylo Open 2026 title
Three deciders, and the same shape each time
In all three comebacks the pattern repeated: a lost opener, a routine middle game, then a third settled inside the last few points. Against Oldorff it was 21-9 in the middle game before a 21-13 decider; against George, a tighter 21-18 before 21-12; against Koljonen, 21-17 before 21-13. None of them wobbled the way Sen’s win over Kodai Naraoka at the Asian Games did, where he trailed 8-14 in the decider before closing it out - this was control from the second game onward, three times running.
It is also close to the opposite of the pattern this site has tracked through India’s season. Five Indian defeats went to a third game at the Asian Games, and Sindhu lost both a three-game quarter-final in Vantaa and the French Open final the same way in the following weeks. Sen’s draw in Saarbrücken put him in the losing position three times in five matches. He won every one of them.
The week before, in Odense, it went the other way
Seven days earlier at the Denmark Open, Sen lost his first-round match to Chou Tien-chen in exactly this shape, reversed: he lost the first game 18-21, won the second 21-13, and lost the decider 15-21. Same three-game structure as his three Hylo Open comebacks, with the ending flipped. In Saarbrücken he won every one of his own deciders; in Odense he had lost the one that mattered.
The final was the only match he didn’t have to fight for
Christie, the sixth seed, pushed back with a run of points in the first game, but Sen’s smashes and cross-court placement held and he closed it 21-17. In the second, Christie had no answer: Sen’s net play and court coverage forced the errors, and it was over 21-10 in 39 minutes. The win levelled Sen’s career head-to-head with Christie at 4-4.
What it ends
It is Sen’s first title since the Australian Open in November 2025, his first of the 2026 season, and it comes in the same year he reached the All England Open final in March, where he lost to Lin Chun-Yi. Sindhu and Sen won both singles titles in Saarbrücken on the same Sunday: India took every ranking point on offer in singles at the Hylo Open 2026.
Did Lakshya Sen win the Hylo Open 2026?
Yes. He beat Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie 21-17, 21-10 in the men’s singles final on 1 November 2026 - his first title of the season and his second Hylo Open title after 2019.
How many matches did Lakshya Sen win from a game down at the Hylo Open?
Three in a row - against Joakim Oldorff in the first round, Kiran George in the second round, and Kalle Koljonen in the quarter-final - all in three games.
What is Lakshya Sen’s head-to-head record against Jonatan Christie?
Level at 4-4 after the Hylo Open final.
When did Lakshya Sen last win a BWF World Tour title before the Hylo Open?
The Australian Open in November 2025. He also reached the All England Open final in March 2026, losing to Lin Chun-Yi.
Did any other Indians win at the Hylo Open 2026?
PV Sindhu won the women’s singles title the same day, beating Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt 21-12, 21-14 without dropping a game all tournament.
Results as published by the BWF. Photograph from the Hylo Open 2026 presentation ceremony. Kreeda is not affiliated with the BWF, Badminton Deutschland or BAI. If you hold rights to an image on this page and want it credited differently or removed, write to support@kreeda.tech.
