Lee Zii Jia's All England Open defence came to an end after the reigning champion fell short 13-21, 21-12, 21-19 in a pulsating 86-minute battle against Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Lee was coming into this game in high spirits after disposing of Kento Momota in the last eight, but he was up against one of the most in-form men's singles shuttlers at the moment.

It was Lakshya who got off to a bright start with a 21-13 win, as Lee's game lacked patience with the shuttler trying to kill off the rallies as fast as possible.

Lee had a stronger start in the second game and worked the Indian as hard as possible to come away 21-12.

The Malaysian looked in control throughout the deciding game too, looking favourite to book a final berth with an 18-16 lead.

But Lakshya immediately increased the tempo and forced Lee into several errors before sealing his second consecutive final.

Lakhsya's victory sealed a meeting with either Viktor Axelsen or Chou Tien-Chen in the final.

Overall this outing was still considered a good one for Lee, who played much better than the German Open last week.

In the women's singles, An Se-Young toppled top seed Tai Tzu-Ying 21-19, 21-13 to reach the final.

Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana stunned their seniors and top seeded Indonesians Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon 22-20, 13-21, 21-16 to reach the men's doubles final.

Japan meanwhile have representatives the women's and mixed doubles final through Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida and Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino.