All England Open: Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya Sen through to pre-quarters

World no.1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men's doubles, and Lakshya Sen in men's singles registered a straight-game win to book a place in the second round of All England Open in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Satwik and Chirag defeated their idols Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 21-18, 21-14 to advance to the second round.

The Indian pair started their onslaught from the get-go and attained a massive lead of 10-5. The Indonesian pair soon changed their tactics as they rallied back with accurate placements of the shuttle with drives rather than high smashes. They soon claimed a 15-14 lead.

The Indians made a quick recovery to counter them and eventually won the game 21-18. In the second game, Satwik and Chirag did not have to toil much as they qualified for the Round of 16.

They will face another Indonesian pairing of Muhammad Fikri and Bakas Maulana in the pre-quarterfinals today. Fikri and Maulana are ranked 9th in the world.

In men's singles, world no.18 Lakshya made light work of Denmark's Magnus Johannesen as he won in straight games (21-14, 21-14) and booked his place in the second round.

Lakshya will be up against another Dane shuttler in fourth-seeded Anders Antonsen in the round of 16.

Antonsen, ranked third in the world, is in superb form this year and reached the pre-quarters making light work of his opponent in the first round.

Meanwhile, Orleans Masters champion, Priyanshu Rajawat made a first-round exit as he lost (19-21, 11-21, 9-21) to last week's finalist Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia.

This loss means Priyanshu will lose a big chunk of ranking points this week as he isn't able to defend his Orleans Masters points which is going simultaneously with the All England Open.

In women's doubles, one of India's top pairing, Tanisha Crasto, and Ashwini Ponnappa also progressed to the second round with a straight-game (21-13, 21-18) win over Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong.

However, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda suffered a first-round exit (9-21, 9-21), losing to the Japanese pairing of Rin Iwanga and Kei Nakanishi.