India’s Lakshya Sen overcame the disappointment of missing out on four match points in the second game to dominate the decider and register a win against Hong Kong’s Nh Ka Long Angus at the 2026 All England Open 2026 on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Indian, who has upset top seed and defending champion Shi Yu Qi in the opening round, prevailed 21-19, 21-23, 21-10 over Angus in an hour and 21 minutes to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
This was also Sen’s first win over the Hong Kong shuttler in four meetings, though the last time they faced each other was back in the 2023 Malaysia Masters.
Sen, the 2022 All England Open finalist, began aggressively and kept his nose ahead through out the opening game. Angus, however drew level at 19-19 after winning three straight points but Sen took the next two to pocket the game.
It looked like Sen would breeze through the second game when he opened up a 11-4 lead but Angus slowly but surely crawled back in the match.
The experienced campaigner from Hong Kong saved three straight match points from 17-20 and then saved another at 20-21 but taking the match in the decider.
But Sen seemed determined to not let go of another opportunity as he took control of the game early with powerful cross court smashes and though Angus saved one match point at 20-9, the gap was too big for him to recover.
Sen, the only Indian left in contention, will now Li Shi Feng of China in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Later in the day, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila retired midway through their Round of 16 match with the latter picking up a back injury.
Crasto-Kapila were trailing 19-21, 8-9 when they decided to pull the plug.
