London: Lakshya Sen stunned World No.3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games to progress to the men’s singles quarter-finals, but PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal exited from the All England Championships here on Thursday.
The 11th-ranked Lakshya notched up an upset 21-16, 21-18 win over third seed Antonsen and will face China’s Lu Guang Zu in the last-eight stage. World No.7 Sindhu, however, made an early exit after going down 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 to Japanese Sayaka Takahashi, ranked 13th, in a women’s singles second-round match.
Saina also bowed out after her gallant fight ended in a loss to second seed Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) in a thrilling three-game match. Saina went down 14-21, 21-17, 17-21. Meanwhile, in men’s doubles, the fifth-seeded pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the last-eight phase by making short work of Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel (Germany) 21-7, 21-7.
Sen gets his tactics spot on
In his match, Lakshya gave ample display of his tactical acumen as he led 11-9 in the opening game’s break. The 20-year-old kept things under control to move to a 13-9 lead and maintained the cushion to pocket the first game.
In the second game, Lakshya jumped to a 9-5 lead early on before grabbing a four-point advantage at the breather. Antonsen fought his way back to 14-14, riding on six points on the trot.
The duo moved from 14-14 to 16-16 before Lakshya managed to eke out a two-point lead at 18-16.
The latter held his nerves and unleashed a cross-court smash to clinch three match points. Antonsen saved one after an exciting rally, but the Indian shut the door on the next to make it to the quarter-finals.
In her women’s singles encounter, Sindhu was left to do the catch-up job as Takahashi led the opening game for most part even though the Indian kept snapping at her heels.
Stung by the reversal, Sindhu came out all guns blazing, galloping to a huge 14-4 lead, a gap which the Japanese couldn’t bridge. In the decider, Sindhu managed to open up a slender 8-6 lead but Takahashi soon turned the tables. The Indian tried to erase the deficit and brought the scoreline to 17-18 before the Japanese sealed the issue.
