Lakshya Sen stormed into the second round of the Macau Open 2025 badminton men’s singles event with a 21-8, 21-14 win over Republic of Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin at the Macao East Asian Games Dome on Wednesday.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, 17th in the badminton rankings, never trailed in the opening game and pulled clear from 13-all in the second to seal the win in straight games.
The Indian badminton player will next face Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the second round after the Indonesian defeated India’s Rithvik Sanjeevi 21-16, 21-8.
Lakshya is looking to turn around a challenging season, with his best result so far being a quarter-final finish at the All England Open in March.
Elsewhere in men’s singles, HS Prannoy suffered an early exit from the BWF Super 300 badminton tournament after losing 18-21, 21-15, 21-16 to Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut Marcellyno. Kiran George and Sankar Subramanian also exited in the opening round.
Ayush Shetty, seeded seventh, beat Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai 21-10, 21-11 to reach the pre-quarterfinals. The US Open badminton champion will face Malaysia’s Justin Hoh in the next round.
Tharun Mannepalli also advanced with a 21-19, 21-13 win over fellow Indian Manraj Singh.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda came within touching distance of an upset against seventh seed Julie Jakobsen of Denmark.
The 17-year-old Indian badminton player took the opening game and led 18-15 in the second, only to falter in the closing stages, eventually going down 16-21, 21-19, 21-17.
Aakarshi Kashyap lost to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, while Tasnim Mir and Anmol Kharb, both of whom advanced from the qualifiers, also fell in the first round.
However, Rakshitha Ramraj scripted a stunning comeback to beat Pornpicha Choeikeewong 18-21, 21-17, 22-20 to enter the second round.
In an all-Indian men’s doubles clash, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K overcame Dingku Singh Konthoujam and Amaan Mohammad 21-18, 21-19.
Mixed doubles saw the fifth-seeded pair of Dhruv Kapila and Olympian Tanisha Crasto dominate Thailand’s Ratchapol Makkasasithorn and Ruethaichanok Laisuan 21-10, 21-15.
Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde fell to Wu Guan-Xun and Lee Chia-hsin of Chinese Taipei in straight games.
Meanwhile, Thandrangi Hema Nagendra Babu and Priya Konjengbam also exited after a straight-games loss to Thailand’s Phuwanat Horbanluekit and Fungfa Korpthammakit.
Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty eased into the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday.