Indonesia Masters: Sen, Rajawat bow out; George lone Indian in fray

India’s Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat suffered straight-game defeats in their respective pre-quarterfinal matches to bow out of the men’s singles competition of the Indonesia Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, here on Thursday.

However, Kiran George remained the lone Indian in the competition as he progressed to the quarterfinals with a 21-11, 13-21, 21-18 victory over Lu Guang Zu of China.

George, coming off an 18-21, 21-16, 21-19 win over Toma Junior Popov of France in the opening round, began at his best pocketing the first game 21-11.

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However, Guang Zu showed great grit in the subsequent game and upped his ante to draw level by winning the next game 21-13. The decider turned out to be even more intense, as both were locked 16-16 at one point of time.

But the Indian kept a calm head towards the closing moments of the fixture and eventually walked away with a 21-18 triumph.

He will now be facing Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the next round, who beat Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan in straight games.

Earlier, taking on eighth-seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark, Sen came up with a strong fight but went down 19-21, 18-21. He had beaten Weng Hongyang of China in the opening round 24-22, 21-15.

On the other hand, Rajawat was up against Brian Yang of Canada after his conquest over Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the first round. Although Rajawat produced a great show in the opening game against the Canadian, it wasn’t enough as he lost 18-21, 14-21 to bow out of the competition.