Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy produced superlative performances to progress to the second round of the All England Championships with straight-game wins in the men’s singles competition here on Tuesday.
In a high-intensity match, Sen moved with speed and mounted a pinpoint attack on the lines to outwit fifth-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21- 18, 21-19 in 48 minutes.
The 21-year-old, who had reached the final in the last edition, thus claimed his first win over the world No. 5 after losing twice in three meetings.
Earlier, world No. 9 Prannoy survived some anxious moments before prevailing 21- 19, 22-20 against Tzu Wei Wang in his 49-minute opening round clash to take his overall tally to 5-3 over the Taiwanese.
Sen, who has slipped to world No. 19, will square off against either Anders Antonsen or Rasmus Gemke in the second round while Prannoy will meet third seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting next.
In the match between Chou and Sen, the former took a 3-1 lead but Sen clawed back to lead 7-6. The Indian led 11-8 at the mid-game interval. The fast-paced rallies continued as Sen kept a firm grip to move to 15-9 but Chou won eight of the next 10 points, only to give it all away with two errors.
