Shi Yuqi (Photo by Fauzi Ananta)
India’s Lakshya Sen produced the biggest upset on the opening day of the All England championships, taking out world No.1 and defending champion Shi Yuqi 23-21, 19-21, 21-17 in the first round.
Prior to the match, Laksya had only beaten Yuqi once in five meetings, but he narrowed the gap after a grueling 78-minute encounter.
The 24-year-old, whose only previous win over Yuqi came in the Asian Games team championships, started aggressively and quickly opened a 17-10 lead in the first game.
Yuqi fought back to make it 18-17, but Lakshya, who was a finalist here in 2022, held his nerve to claim the opener.
In the second game, Yuqi dominated early, taking a 19-13 lead before a late resistance from Laksya. Yuqi won the game 21-19 to force the decider.
In the final game, Lakshya, the former world championships bronze medalist, controlled the net and flat exchanges, opening a 16-11 advantage before converting four match points to seal the victory.
Also shown an early exit was third seed Anders Antonsen. The Dane went out tamely 8-21, 12-21 to Japan’s Koki Watanabe in his opening match.
Eighth seeded Alex Lanier of France was also given a rude awakening after Canadian Victor Lai carved out hard-earned 21-12, 21-23, 23-21 win in 87-minutes.
There was, however, no such problem for women’s singles top seed An Se-young. The Korean superstar eased to a 21-8, 21-6 win over Turkish No 1 Neslihan Arin in her opening match in just 27 minutes.
Former world champions in the mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia, seeded fourth, were also sent packing home early. They were beaten 21-18, 12-21, 23-25 by Denmark’s Rasmus Espersen-Amalia Cecil;ie Kudsk in the first round.
In the mixed doubles, eight seeds Mathias Christiansen-Alexander Boje were beaten 16-21, 18-21 by the unseeded Taiwanese pairing of Yang Po-Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang.
