World Championships bronze medalist Lakshya Sen advanced to the men’s singles quarter-finals by defeating world number three Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games but lost to Olympic medalists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the All England Championships here on Thursday. had to face.
The 20-year-old Sen from Almora, who won his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open in January and then reached the final of the German Open last week, registered a 21-16, 21-18 victory over third seed Antonsen. ,
Antonsen is a two-time medalist at the World Championships in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva respectively. This was his first meeting at the international level.
Sen will face China’s Lu Guang Xu in the quarterfinals.
World No. 7 Sindhu, however, crashed out early in the second round after losing 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 to 13th-ranked left-armer Takahashi.
Saina Nehwal also crashed out in the second round after ending her heroic fight in a thrilling three-game match against second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.
Former world No. 1 Saina, London Olympic bronze medalist, lost to world No. 2 Yamaguchi 14-21 21-17 17-21 in a 50-minute women’s singles clash.
It was a much better performance from the Indian, who lost in straight games to Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand at the German Open last week.
The fifth-seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the last eight stage with a 21-7, 21-7 win over Germany’s Mark Lamphus and Marvin Seidel.
Sen made ample display of his tactical prowess as he finished a defensive game and held Antonsen out of the net for an 11-9 lead in the first break. He kept things under control after the interval to take a 13-9 lead and held the lead to pocket the opening game.
Sen kept his score close to the baseline and tried to use his smashes wisely to take a four-point lead before taking a 9-5 lead.
Antonsen made his comeback 14-14 riding six points at the trot. The two went from 14-14 to 16-16 before Sen managed to take a two-point lead at 18-16.
He kept his nerves and unleashed a cross-court smash to score three match points. Antonsen saved one after a thrilling rally but the Indian closed next door to make it to the last 8.
Coming into the match with a 4–4 head-to-head record of the draw, Sindhu was left to act as the catch-up as Takahashi led the opening match for the most part, even though the Indian did. continued snapping at his heels and had scored at 11. -1 and 15-15 before going up to 19-20 in one leg.
Staggering from the reverse, Sindhu pulled out all cylinders blazing, for a massive 14-4 lead, a gap that the Japanese could not bridge as the Indian bounced back.
Sindhu managed to take a slim 8-6 lead in the decider, but Takahashi soon turned the tables and then jumped five straight to 15-10.
The Japanese sealed the issue comfortably before Sindhu tried to erase the deficit and make it 17-18.
Sindhu had also crashed out of the German Open in the second round.