Paris, Oct 22: India’s Lakshya Sen bowed out of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament after suffering a straight game defeat to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the men’s singles opening round here on Tuesday.Lakshya, who had reached the finals of Hong Kong Open, looked off-colour from the start to eventually go down 7-21, 16-21 to the world number 29 Nhat.
Last week, the 24-year-old from Almora had defeated Nhat in a three-game opener at Denmark Open but he was erratic in Paris, repeatedly hitting wide and into the net while struggling to find rhythm against his opponent’s steep smashes.
The Indian’s deep tosses often missed the lines, and his attacking play lacked precision as he trailed 2-7 early in the opening game.
Despite doing most of the hard work in rallies, Lakshya frequently faltered on the finishing shot. He was six points behind at the interval after another wide return and never recovered as Nhat moved to 19-7 before sealing the opener with a crisp cross-court winner.