Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen overcame early jitters to prevail over Collins Valentine Filimon of Austria in three games to progress to the second round of the men’s singles event at the BWF World Championships here on Tuesday.
Sen registered a 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 win over Filimon in his opener that lasted 45 minutes.
Sen will next play the US’s Garret Tan, who defeated Switzerland’s Tobias Kuenzi 21-4, 21-15.
Sen started slowly as his less-fancied opponent kept him on his toes in the first game. The star Indian shuttler struggled to find his footing as the score went neck-and-neck before he lost six straight points, courtesy of some sloppy play and unforced errors, to trail 12-17.
Sen pulled some points back, but the Romania-born shuttler kept his calm by keeping the shuttle on court and drawing errors from the Indian to pocket the first game against the run of play.
In the second game, both shuttlers were locked at 7-7 before the Indian pulled up his socks to take an 11-8 lead with his attacking game.
He then used his experience and reeled off 10 straight points, giving no room to his opponent, who seemed to have lost his steam.
There was no stopping Sen from there on as he kept up his aggressive game, forcing numerous unforced errors from Filimon to take the upper hand in the match at 15-1 and then seal the contest with consummate ease.
Treesa-Gayatri pair to advance
The unseeded Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned 16th seeds Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee of the United States in straight games to sail into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event.
Treesa and Gayatri took just 38 minutes to beat their fancied opponents 21-15 21-12 and progress to the next round.
The Indian duo started confidently, taking an aggressive approach from the outset. Jolly was the aggressor, using her powerful smashes to finish points, while Gayatri kept the shuttle in play and found success with her deft drop shots as the pair comfortably pocketed the opening game.
The Indian combination started the second game in the same vein and raced to an 11-4 lead at the break.
The Indians were relentless in their attacking play and were also helped by some unforced errors from their opponents.
The hallmark of Treesa and Gayatri’s display was their line judgements and quick hands as they closed out the contest 21-12.
The other Indian women’s doubles pair — Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi — however, crashed out in the second round, losing 7-21 14-21 against Bulgaria’s ninth-seeded pair of Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva in straight games in just 32 minutes.
Poor outing for India in mixed doubles
India witnessed a disastrous outing in the mixed doubles event, with the pairs of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh crashing out in the opening round.
While the Kapoor-Gadde duo fought hard before losing 22-20, 19-21, 17-21 to Canada’s Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Crystal Lai, Surya and Pramuthesh went down fighting, 21-16, 29-30, 22-24, to Turkey’s Emre Sonmez and Yasemen Bektas.
Another Indian mixed doubles pair still remains in the competition in the form of 15 seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who will take on Macau’s Iok Chong Leong and Weng Chi NG in the second round after getting a bye in the opening round.
Rising Indian women’s singles shuttler Unnati Hooda progressed to the second round with a hard-fought 22-20, 21-16 win over Thet Htar Thuzar of Myanmar in a 40-minute contest.
Unnati, who is coached by her father, will next take on 13th-seeded Michelle Li of Canada.
