Lakshya Sen Stuns World Number 3 Antensen To Enter All England Quarterfinals; Sindhu, Saina out

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen stunned world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games to progress to the men's singles quarterfinals but it was curtains for Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the All England Championships in Birmingham on Thursday. Sen, the 20-year-old 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 21-16 21-18 win over third seed Antonsen.

Antonsen is a two-time medallist at World Championships in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva respectively. It was their first meeting at the international stage.

Sen will face China's Lu Guang Zu in the quarter-final.

World no 7 Sindhu, however, made an early exit after going down 19-21 21-16 17-21 to left-handed Takahashi, ranked 13th, in an hour and six minutes second round match.

Saina Nehwal also bowed out after her gallant fight ended with a loss to second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in a thrilling three-game match in the second round.

Former world No. 1 Saina, the London Olympics bronze medallist, lost 14-21 21-17 17-21 world No. 2 Yamaguchi in a 50-minute women's singles 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.

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.

Sen's tactical nous

Sen gave ample display of his tactical acumen as he dished out a defensive game and kept Antonsen away from the net to lead 11-9 at the first break. He kept things under control after the interval to move