India’s challenge ended at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament with star shuttler Lakshya Sen bowing out in the quarterfinals of the men’s singles event here on Friday. Sen, ranked 14th in the world, fought hard before going down 22-24, 18-21 against world no.5 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a match that lasted one hour and one minute.
Antonsen now enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head record against the Indian. It was a see-saw battle between Sen and Antonsen in the first game which the Dane pocketed in 32 minutes. There was nothing to separate the two shuttlers till the end as both matched each other before Antonsen had the last laugh.
Antonsen took an early 4-0 lead but a determined Sen fought hard to equal the scores at 5-5 and then extended it to 15-11. But the Dane was not to be left behind as he used his reach and tired out Sen with long rallies to level the scores at 16-16. The two players fought tooth and nail till 22 points before the Indian faltered to hand the first game to his opponent.
"Lakshya Sen and Anders Antonsen fight neck to neck in 2nd round:
The neck-and-neck fight between Sen and Antonsen continued in the second game with both the shuttlers in no mood to give an inch to each other. Both Sen and Antonsen played their hearts out till 18 points in the second game, not willing to give an upper hand to the other.
But eventually, it was Sen who faltered as he failed to hold his nerves, committing a few unforced errors and Antonsen kept his cool to pocket three straight points and seal the affair in his favour. Antonsen will play eight seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semifinals.
