Indonesia Masters: Lakshya loses in quarters to Chinese Tien

The 20-year-old Indian suffered 16-21, 21-12, 14-21 against Chou in the quarterfinal here at Istora Senayan.

This was Chou's second successive win over Lakshya.

The two shuttlers faced off at the Thomas Cup last month where the Indian suffered a 19-21 21-13 17-21 loss.

A close contest was witnessed in the opening game before Chou headed onto the breather with a three-point advantage, 11-8.

Lakshya tried to equalise but a couple of errors handed free points to Chou, who maintained the three-point lead and kept pushing the Indian to commit errors.

The Taipei shuttler took a series of points to reach four game-point opportunity and wrapped up the first game 21-16 to go 1-0 up in the match.

Lakshya took control in the second game and raced to an 11-5 advantage at the time of mid-game interval.

Post break, Chou retaliated with his high intensity shots but Lakshya kept hold of a six-point advantage.

The Indian continued to build pressure on Taipei shuttler to force the decider by pocketing the second game 21-12 without too much effort.

In the deciding game, Chou put himself in the driver's seat and quickly reached a 7-3 lead.

He succeeded in putting psychological pressure on Lakshya and went to the mid-game break with 6-point advantage, 11-5.

After the change of sides, Lakshya took three successive points to reduce the score board deficit. But the Taipie player was in no mood to lose his grip from the match and extended the lead to 15-8.

Lakshya dug deep to bounce back in the game with a series of points that included a miraculous save.

He saved two match points but it proved to be enough for him to save the win and Chou took the decider 21-14 to enter the semifinal of the Super 500 tournament.