India's fast-rising shuttler, Lakshya Sen on Thursday stunned world no. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in Birmingham to enter men's singles quarterfinal of All England Open Badminton Championships 2022. But it was curtains for two-time semifinalist PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth. (More Badminton News)
Sen, 20, defeated 24-year-old Antonsen in straight games (21-16, 21-18) in 55 minutes at Arena Birmingham. This was their first-ever meeting in the BWF circuit. Antonsen is a two-time BWF World Championships medallist, in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva.
The world no. 11 from Almora had previously defeated Indian compatriot Sourabh Verma 21-17, 21-7 in the Round of 32.
Sen, the BWF World Championships bronze medal, had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then reached the finals of the German Open last week.
Sen will face either Hong Kong's eighth seed Ng Ka Long Angus or China's Lu Guang Zu next.
Later in the day, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu was stunned by Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in three gruelling games (19-21, 21-16, 17-21). This was Sindhu's fifth defeat against the world no. 13 in nine meetings. World no. 7 Sindhu also lost to Takahashi in their last two meetings by the same margins, at Indonesia Masters 2020 and French Open 2021.
Earlier in the day, India ace Saina Nehwal produced a gallant fight before going down to second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in a thrilling three-game match. Former world no 1 Saina, the London Olympics bronze medallist, lost 14-21 21-17 17-21 in a 50-minute women's singles clash.
World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth also bowed out after losing 21-9, 18-21, 19-21 to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second-round that last just over an hour.
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.
In 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 14-19 after winning the first game 21-18.
