Patience over power — How did Lakshya Sen beat Jonatan Christie to win Hylo Open 2026?

Speaking about the final, Lakshya Sen explained how he handled a match that was close to being comfortable. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Lakshya Sen’s route to the Hylo Open title was built on patience more than power. Despite having an early cushion of six to seven points against Jonathan Christie, he refused to rush because it was hard to hit through on the first attempt.

Speaking about the final, Lakshya explained how he handled a match that was close to being comfortable. “I was just trying to play the right patient game against him,” Lakshya said.

The coach’s message from the sidelines was the same: stay in the rally. Christie was making few errors at that stage, and Lakshya had to resist the urge to attack more. “The strategy was to not just go attacking,” he said. “Wait for the right chances, play the steady game from the net.”

He explained the net plan as a way of handling Christie’s strength. The idea was to take more control from the net so that the Indonesian could not finish rallies scrappily.

“He also has a very good attack, so I had to not give him easy chances to finish the rally,” he said. That meant paying close attention to the lifts he played from the net.

His mindset going into the final was just as simple. “For me it was important to have the right strategy in place and not think so much about the ranking,” he said. He added that when you play opponents this often, matches are always 50-50.

“You go there to just fight and give your best and play the right game,” Lakshya added.

The early rounds were harder. Having skipped the French Open to let a shoulder issue settle, Lakshya said he was rusty in shot selection and slow to start games. He lost the first game of his opener before winning the next two.

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Top-15 opponents later in the draw left little room for slow starts, and he said his touch improved with each match. Playing five matches in a week helped.

“Having more matches to play really helped,” he said. He also spoke about the smash that has long been his trademark, the cross-court shot from overhead.

“It’s a smash at the end of the day,” he said, crediting years of practice and a liking for the shot that began when he was a kid. It was one of his best weapons as a junior, but opponents are now prepared for it. There are hundreds of video analysts and people reading your game every day, so I don’t use it that often now,” Lakshya added.

Lakshya said he is not carrying any major injury concerns.

On what lies ahead, he said he would rest briefly, spend Diwali with his family and leave for Japan and Hong Kong, the next two events. “The next two tournaments are important for this year,” he said, with the World Tour Finals still in his sights.