Dutch Open 2019: Lakshya and Rahul enter quarter-finals

The young Indian singles player, Lakshya Sen and Rahul Bharadwaj moved into the quarter-finals of the Super 100 Dutch Open at Almere, Netherlands on Thursday. 

It was an outstanding performance by Lakshya as he defeated Brazilian, Ygor Coelho in three sets by 21-13,16-21, 21-10. The Indian proved his worth with great shots and kept the Brazilian under pressure to win the first set easily at 21-13. 

In the second game, Sen committed a lot of mistakes, which Coelho took advantage of and forced the match into the decider. The Indian, however, showed a lot of courage to win the third set easily by 21-10 and qualified to the quarter-finals of the Dutch Open.

Rahul Bhardwaj stunned sixth ranked, Victor Svendsen in three sets by 21-17, 24-26, 21-8. It was a great performance by the Indian who showed phenomenal fighting spirit to win the first set easily by 21-17. 

The second set was closely fought, however, the Danish ended up winning the game by 26-24. In the deciding game, Bharadwaj dominated from the beginning of the game and didn't allow the opponent to get back into the match.

The number one ranked player in the tournament, Sameer Verma suffered a shock loss to Yusuke Onodera in three sets by 18-21, 21-19, 14-21. The Japanese played with aggression in the first game and won it by 21-18. The second game was a close fought affair as both the players gave their everything, but it was Sameer who won it eventually by 21-19 and entered to the next stage of the Dutch Open.

In the deciding game, both players fought for each point with a score line reading at 4-4 and stayed equal for long period. At the interval, the Indian had a slender 11-10 lead. After the interval, the Japanese did not allow the Indian to comeback and won the game easily by 14-21.

Sen and Bhardwaj would be facing each other in the quarter-finals, tomorrow.

Cover photo credits: Onmanorama