Lakshya Sen stunned fifth seed Christo Popov in straight games to advance to the second round of the Hylo Open 2025 in Germany, while fellow Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered an early exit after losing to Kiran George in the opening round. (Image Credit: Olympics.com)
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen gave a breathtaking performance to make his way into the second round of the Hylo Open Super 500 badminton tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Wednesday. In contrast, Kidambi Srikanth's journey came to an end disappointingly in the first round.
Lakshya Sen, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, registered a straight-games victory over fifth seed Christo Popov of France. The Indian outplayed the higher-ranked Frenchman 21-16, 22-20 in just 46 minutes, showing great composure in crucial moments.
The victory is the continuation of Lakshya's good run of form, following a finals appearance at the Hong Kong Open last week. His penetrative net play and determination in long rallies kept Popov in trouble throughout. Lakshya will now meet compatriot S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, who fought past Malaysia's Jun Hao Leong 21-14, 18-21, 21-16 to make it into the pre-quarterfinals.
While Lakshya moved ahead, the road ended for Kidambi Srikanth. The old World No. 1 was beaten 19-21, 11-21 by fellow Indian Kiran George in a one-sided match. Srikanth began on a high note but lost steam after a closely-fought first game, giving George free rein in the second with accuracy and speed.
George will next take on eighth seeded France's Toma Junior Popov, who edged England's Harry Huang 21-17, 19-21, 21-19 in another close-fought match.
India's women shuttlers also created news with stunning victories. Shriyanshi Valishetty, seeded out of the draw, pulled off a humongous upset by upsetting third seed Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-19, 21-12 in a mere 33 minutes. Rakshitha Santhosh Ramraj also moved into the next round, upsetting Spain's Clara Azurmendi 21-14, 21-16.
The two Indians will face each other in an all-Indian encounter in the second round. But Anmol Kharb had to bow out of the event after a gallant 24-26, 21-23 defeat against Denmark's Julie Dawall Jakobsen.
