Former champion Lakshya Sen produced a composed and tactical performance to progress to the quarterfinals of the USD 950,000 India Open Super 750 badminton tournament but Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy bowed out after a spirited show here on Thursday.
The top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, one of the favourites to win the title, also exited after a heartbreaking 27-25 21-23 19-21 loss to Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita in the second round later in the day.
Sen, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, showed resilience and maturity to overcame Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-19, 21-11 in the second round to emerge as the only Indian challenge in singles at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
The 24-year-old from Almora will next face Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi, who defeated Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-16, 21-17.
Earlier, Srikanth fought hard but went down 21-14, 17-21, 21-17 to France’s Christo Popov, the reigning World Tour Finals champion.
Prannoy also pushed his opponent close before losing 18-21, 21-19, 21-14 to eighth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
Malvika Bansod also went down 18-21 15-21 to China’s fifth seed Han Yue in a women’s singles match.
India’s challenge in women’s doubles also ended when Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 22-20 22-24 21-23 against seventh seeds Li Yijing and Luo Xumin of China in a marathon match that lasted 84 minutes.
India Open: Lakshya enters quarters; Satwik-Chirag, Srikanth, Prannoy out
NEW DELHI, JAN 15 (PTI)