Lakshya stuns world no 3 Antonsen to enter quarters; Sindhu, Saina, Srikanth out

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen stunned world No 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games to progress to the mens singles quarterfinals but it was curtains for Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the All England Championships here on ThursdaySen the 20yearold from Almora who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then reached the finals of German Open last week notched up an upset 2116 2118 win over third seed AntonsenAntonsen is a twotime medallist at World Championships in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva respectively It was their first meeting at the international stage Sen will face Chinas Lu Guang Zu in the quarterfinalFifth seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also entered the last eight stage after making short work of Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany 217 217World no 7 Sindhu however made an early exit after going down 1921 2116 1721 to lefthanded Takahashi ranked 13th in an hour and six minutes second round matchSaina Nehwal also bowed out after her gallant fight ended with a loss to second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in a thrilling threegame match in the second round Former world No 1 Saina the London Olympics bronze medallist lost 1421 2117 1721 world No 2 Yamaguchi in a 50minute womens singles clashIt was a much improved performance from the Indian who had lost in straight games to Thailands Ratchanok Inthanon at German Open last week Later in the day World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth also bowed out after losing 219 1821 1921 to Indonesias Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second round that last just over an hourIn a significant result Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also entered the quarterfinal after their sixth seeded opponents Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu from Indonesia retired in the second game lagging 1419 after winning the first game 2118Sens tactical nousSen gave ample display of his tactical acumen as he dished out a defensive game and kept Antonsen away from the net to lead 119 at the first break He kept things under control after the interval to move to a 139 lead and maintained the lead to pocket the opening gameSen kept his clears close to the baseline and tried to use his smashes judiciously to jump to a 95 lead early on before grabbing a fourpoint advantage at the breather Antonsen fought his way back to 1414 riding on six points on the trot The duo moved 1414 to 1616 before Sen managed to eke out a twopoint lead at 1816He kept his nerves and unleased a cross court smash to grab three match points Antonsen saved one after an exciting rally but the Indian shut the door next to make it to the last 8Coming into the match with an equal 44 headtohead record Sindhu was left to do the catch up job as Takahashi led the opening match for most part even though the Indian kept snapping at her heels and had levelled scores at 111 and 1515 before moving to 1920 at one stageStung by the reversal Sindhu came out all cylinders blazing gallping to a huge 144 lead a gap which the Japanese couldnt bridge as the Indian bounced back In the decider Sindhu managed to open up a slender 86 lead but Takahashi soon turned the tables and then reeled off five straight points to jump to 1510Sindhu tried to erase the deficit and made it 1718 before the Japanese sealed the issued comfortably Sindhu had made a second round exit at German Open as wellThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever