All England Open: Lakshya Sen quells Angus threat, to meet Li Feng in quarters

Lakshya Sen twice rallied from a midmatch slump to overcome Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus 21-19, 21-23, 21-10 and advance to the quarterfinals of the All England Championships in Birmingham on Thursday.He is the only Indian left in the fray after the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto retired against Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet while trailing 19-21, 8-9.Lakshya, who stunned world champion Shi Yu Qi in the first round, surrendered huge leads in the first two games before recovering to dominate the decider.Leading 17-13 and 19-16 in the first game, Lakshya let Angus draw level at 19-19. Lakshya then produced a powerful crosscourt winner to reach match point. Angus hit the next one wide to lose the first game.In the second, Lakshya was cruising at 11-4 and quickly made it 13-6. Angus, who had never lost to Lakshya in three meetings, reduced it to 16-19. From 17-20, he saved three match points and stunned Lakshya to win the game. Lakshya had lost the 2024 Olympic bronze medal match to Lee Zee Jia after failing to hold on to big leads. But the Indian buried those Parisian demons with a superlative performance in the decider here.From 0-2, he scored five straight points and swiftly extended the lead to 13-5. Playing with a lot of caution, he did not allow Angus to recover as he then fired smash winners to register his first victory against the Hong Kong shuttler.Lakshya lauded his opponent for the fightback. “It was very solid in both games. Credit to him, he made a solid comeback in the second. I didn’t play freely towards the end of the second game and gave too many easy shots for him to hit. But I prepared well for the third game to go all out and am happy with the way I played the third game,” Lakshya said.The Indian admitted that he did not stick to the plan towards the end of the first two sets. “Tactically, I was playing the right game. It’s just that I did not stick to the plan during the last few points, made too many errors. But it was important to forget the first two games and play the third with the plan that worked,” said Lakshya.Lakshya now faces Li Shi Feng of China in the quarterfinals. “Now it is time to recover for another tough match tomorrow,” he signed off.Lakshya and Li have a par win-loss record at 7-7, but the Chinese shuttler has won their last three meetings.