Lakshya Sen stunned world No. 3 Anders Antonsen in straight games to progress to the men's singles quarterfinals but it was curtains for PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth in the second round at the All England Championships on Thursday.
In the doubles, the fifth 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 21-7, 21-7. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also entered the quarterfinal after their sixth seeded opponents, Olympic champions Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu from Indonesia, retired in the second game lagging 14-19 after winning the first game 21-18.
All England: Unfazed Lakshya Sen knocks out 3rd seed Anders Antonsen
Sindhu bows out early
Sixth seed Sindhu went down to left-handed Sayaka Takahashi, ranked 13th, 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 in an hour and six minutes. Coming into the match with an equal 4-4 head-to-head record, Sindhu was left to play catch up as Takahashi led the opening match for most part. The Indian levelled scores at 11-1 and 15-15 before moving to 19-20 at one stage.
Sindhu then came out all cylinders blazing, taking a huge 14-4 lead, a gap which the Japanese couldn't bridge in the second game. In the decider, Sindhu managed to open up a slender 8-6 lead but Takahashi soon turned the tables and then reeled off five straight points to jump to 15-10. Sindhu tried to erase the deficit and made it 17-18 before the Japanese prevailed. Sindhu had made a second round exit at German Open as well. Saina Nehwal put up a tough fight against second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi, losing 14-21, 21-17, 17-21 in a 50-minute clash. It was a much improved performance from the Indian, who had lost in straight games to Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon at German Open last week.
World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after losing 21-9, 18-21, 19-21 to Indonesia's fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second round that last just over an hour.
(with inputs from PTI)