Jakarta (Indonesia): India's challenge ended at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament with star shuttler Lakshya Sen bowing out in the quarterfinals of the men's singles event here on Friday. Sen, ranked 14th in the world, fought hard before going down 22-24 18-21 against world no.5 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a match that lasted one hour and one minute.
Antonsen now enjoys a 3-2 head-to-head record against the Indian. It was a see-saw battle between Sen and Antonsen in the first game which the Dane pocketed in 32 minutes. There was nothing to separate the two shuttlers till the end as both matched each other before Antonsen had the last laugh.
Antonsen took an early 4-0 lead but a determined Sen fought hard to equal the scores at 5-5 and then extended it to 15-11. But the Dane was not to be left behind as he used his reach and tired out Sen with long rallies to level the scores at 16-16. The two players fought tooth and nail till 22 points before the Indian faltered to hand the first game to his opponent.
