Lakshya Sen bows down. Kidambi Srikanth and Tanvi Sharma advance in the Masters tournament in China

Lakshya Sen crashed out of the China Masters after a lukewarm performance in the opening round, but Kidambi Srikanth and Tanvi Sharma registered back-to-back wins to advance to the second round of the men’s and women’s singles events here on Wednesday. Lakshya, the 2021 World Championship bronze medalist, played an error-filled match, losing 14-21, 7-21 in 38 minutes to Canadian world number nine Victor Lai, who won his second bronze medal at the World Championships last month.

This is Lakshya’s third defeat against the Canadian, and his only victory was in the All England Championship in March of this year.

However, Srikanth, a silver medalist at the 2021 World Championships, qualified after defeating Chi Yue Jin of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-15 in another men’s singles opener.

The former world number one Indian, who reached the US Open final this year, will face Lai in their next match.

Tanvi, who won her first title on the PWF World Tour at the Taipei Open last month, defeated Danish Amalie Schulz 21-16, 21-17 to also qualify for the second round of the women’s singles.

The 17-year-old from Punjab, who won bronze at the World Junior Championships in Guwahati last year, will face Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki in the next round.

Two-time World Championship bronze medalists Satwiksraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the next round with a 21-11, 21-16 victory over Malaysians Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Shing.

The Asian Games gold medalist pair will next face the Popov brothers – Christo and Tomas Junior – from France.

The Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Krasto also entered the next round after defeating Thailand’s Tunakorn Saihing and Tunisha Saihing 21-8, 21-9.

The duo will meet Liu Kuang-heng from Chinese Taipei and Hsu Yin-hui next.

However, Devika Sihag lost 18-21, 15-21 to Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova to end her campaign.

Mixed doubles pair Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Jade were also unable to clear the opening hurdle, losing 16-21, 18-21 to Wu Guanxun of Chinese Taipei and Li Chia-hsien.

It’s been a tough few weeks for Lakshya, who made an unceremonious early exit from the home World Series.

On Wednesday, he struggled to find a way past Lai’s resolute defending and gradually lost patience, making repeated errors on the Canadian’s backhand.

Lakshya had a 4-0 lead early in the opener, but Lai quickly took control of the match and never allowed Lakshya to settle into his rhythm, closing out the match comfortably.

After changing sides, the Indian’s frustration grew as Lae continued to absorb pressure and force errors. Lakshya trailed 11-4 and was unable to come back, and the Canadian finished the match without much ado.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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