India's Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the opening round of the Indonesia Open badminton tournament after losing in straight games, here on Wednesday.
While world no. 8 Sen lost to compatriot H S Prannoy 10-21, 9-21 in an all-Indian first round clash, world no. 11 Srikanth, who was making a comeback after nearly a month, was stunned by 41st ranked Brice Leverdez of France 21-23, 10-21.
This is Srikanth's first loss against the 36-year-old Frenchman in their six meetings.
Sen, who is in red hot form, clinched his first-ever Super 500 title this year. The 20-year-old reached the finals of the prestigious All England Championships and was also part of the Indian men's team that lifted the historic Thomas Cup crown.
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Interestingly, this was Prannoy's first-ever win against Sen out of their three head-to-head meetings so far.
In the doubles action, the duo of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila opened their account with a win, getting the better of higher ranked Japanese pair of Kelichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi 27-25, 18-25, 21-19.
However, it was curtains for the women's duo of Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam, losing 9-21, 10-21 to China's Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu in just 28 minutes.
The campaign also ended for another women's pairing of Haritha M Harinarayan and Ashna Roy as the duo also suffered straight-game defeat against South Korea's Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong.
In the Sen versus Prannoy game, the former was in no match in front of over-aggressive Prannoy, who despite trailing 3-6 at one point, made a strong comeback, courtesy some good shots.
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The 29-year-old eventually extended his lead to 21-10 and pocketed the first game easily.
In the second game, Prannoy continued from where he left off and took a massive 11-3 lead.
Trailing, Sen was expected to make a comeback, but Prannoy's unplayable cross-court smashes made it a difficult affair for the former.
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