Birmingham, March 5 Lakshya Sen delivered a tenacious performance to defeat Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus and advance to the men's singles quarterfinals of the All England Open Badminton Championships here on Thursday.
World No. 12 Lakshya, who was a finalist in the 2022 edition, played at a high level, overcoming intense rallies and physical exchanges to defeat Ng Ka Long, a former top-10 player, 21-19, 21-23, 21-10 in a thrilling round-of-16 match.
"It was a very solid game. I think both sets were well-played, and I also have to credit him for his strong comeback in the second set. I think I didn't play freely towards the end of the second set and made too many easy errors," Lakshya said.
"But yeah, I was prepared in the third set to go all out, and I'm happy with how I played.
"Tactically, I was playing the right game in both sets, and it's just that the last few points I didn't stick to the plan. I made too many easy errors. But again, it was important to just switch off, forget the second and first sets, and just play the third set with the same game plan which was working."
Lakshya, a bronze medallist at the 2021 World Championships, will face either China's sixth seed Li Shi Feng or Ireland's Nhat Nguyen next.
"I'm feeling pretty good on court, especially after the last two matches. Now it's time to recover and prepare for another tough match tomorrow. I have 24 hours to just focus and go all out," he added.
Lakshya started the match by losing all three encounters against his opponent and fell behind initially in the opening game. He fought back from 4-6 down to establish a 15-11 lead, putting pressure on his opponent with aggressive returns and sharp placement.
He extended the advantage to 17-13 with a well-timed overhead attack, but Ng Ka Long refused to back down and narrowed the gap late in the game.
At 15-17, Lakshya left one at the backline, but it was judged out. The Indian had no video challenges left and had to accept the call. Lakshya then produced a sharp smash to reach 19-17, but Ng Ka Long clawed back to 19-19 with a cross-court winner.
Another jump smash gave Lakshya a game point, and he sealed it when Ng Ka Long hit wide.
Lakshya slammed down a cross-court smash to start the second game and maintain the momentum. He kept his shot quality consistent and mixed his power with precision to take a 11-4 lead at the interval. Lakshya dished out another phenomenal straight smash to make it 14-7.
At 12-17, Ng Ka Long engaged in yet another superlative rally, stretching the Indian to the limit to keep himself afloat. Ng Ka Long then produced a spirited fightback. He stepped up his game and managed to win five of the last five points to move to 17-19.
Another incredible cross-court smash brought up three match points for Lakshya.
But Lakshya missed one, and then Ng Ka Long found the line by a millimetre before saving another to make it 20-20.
Lakshya grabbed another match point, only to give it away, and then Ng Ka Long earned a game point with a smash and forced the match into the decider after the Indian found the net.
Lakshya had to reset his mind and start afresh after Ng Ka Long snatched the second game, and he showed great mental strength as he surged to 6-2 with some exciting shots. His defence was robust, and Ng Ka Long couldn't get past anything.
Another precise cross-court took the Indian to 10-4. Soon he had a six-point cushion at the interval after producing an incredible cross-court net deception.
The rallies started growing shorter as Lakshya drew errors from the Hong Kong shuttler, who trailed 6-14 at that stage.
Ka Long tried to cause problems for Lakshya, but the Indian managed to wriggle out of position with his superb defence, diving at will to keep the rallies alive.
Lakshya then upped the speed and injected pace into the rallies to move to 18-7. He pounced on another weak return at the net to move just two points away.
Lakshya soon earned 11 match points when Ka Long found the net. He wasted one before another shot from the Hong Kong shuttler sailed out.
