SaarLorLux Open | Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath, Rahul Bharadwaj advance to the pre-quarterfinals
Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen overcame a stiff challenge posed by Finland’s Eetu Heino to enter the pre-quarterfinals at the SaarLorLux Open Super Tour 100. While Mithun Manjunath and BM Rahul Bharadwaj also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with convincing straight game victories.
Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen overcame a stiff challenge posed by Finland’s Eetu Heino and progressed into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals at the SaarLorLux Open Super Tour 100 in Saarbrucken, Germany. The 18-year-old from Uttarakhand, who had got the better of Heino on way to his title win at Belgian international in September, overpowered the Finnish shuttler in the second-round match 21-18 18-21 22-20 in a tight competition which lasted 56-minute on Wednesday night.
Lakshya, who had won his maiden BWF World Tour title at the Dutch Open early this month, will be up against Germany’s Lars Schaenzler next. The eighth-seeded Indian had received a bye in the opening round. Mithun Manjunath and BM Rahul Bharadwaj also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with convincing straight game victories.
Mithun defeated Chong Yee Han of Malaysia 21-15 21-14 to set up a meeting with England’s fifth seed Toby Penty. While Rahul got the better of Germany’s Kai Schaefer 21-13 21-15 and will face Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen next. Kiran George, who had earlier reached the pre-quarterfinals after beating France's Toma Junior Popov in straight games, will face Netherlands’ Joran Kweekel on Thursday.
Fifth-seeded women’s doubles pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh, who got a bye in the first round, will battle it out against the Danish pair of Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow for a place in the quarters.
Men’s doubles pairing of Vaibhaav and Prakash Raj, who overcame Malaysia's Amri Ameer and Muhammad Idham Zainal Abi Syazmil, will meet fourth seeds Scotland pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall in the pre-quarters.
