New Delhi: Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen couldn’t make the most of his first Super 500 quarterfinal appearance in six months, losing the last-eight clash to fourth seed Alex Lanier of France at the Hylo Open 2025 at the Saarlandhalle Arena in Saarbrucken, Germany.
After losing the closely fought first game 17-21, Lakshya fought bravely to restore parity, bagging the second game 21-14. However, the Indian shuttler failed to carry the momentum in the final game and slumped to a 17-21, 21-14, 15-21 loss in a quarterfinal fixture which lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
Tough loss for 🇮🇳 Lakshya Sen at the #HyloOpen quarterfinals 💥
Despite a spirited performance, Sen went down 17-21, 21-14, 15-21 to 🇫🇷 Alex Lanier (WR 8) in a thrilling three-game battle.
A strong showing this week for the Indian ace, who continues to find rhythm and sharpness… pic.twitter.com/6SNfa3HAvJ
— IndiaSportsHub (@IndiaSportsHub) October 31, 2025
In another quarterfinal fixture, Ayush Shetty suffered a tough loss against Kalle Koljonen of Finland in a three-game thriller.
The young Indian went ahead in the match after claiming the first game 21-19. But the Finnish shuttler levelled terms by winning the second game 21-12. Both shuttlers fought hard in the decider, but the Indian shuttler fell agonisingly short, losing the game 20-22 to exit the tournament.
Lakshya’s good run in Germany ends
Lakshya was on a good run in Germany and signalled his intentions stunning victory over defending champion and World No. 7 Christo Popov in the second round.
The 24-year-old Indian star continued his good form and demolished compatriot Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian Sankar in straight games, 21-14, 21-11, in just 37 minutes to seal the last-8 berth.
However, Sen failed to capitalise on the impressive results and returns home empty-handed. The quarterfinal exit also dealt a blow to his bid to return to the top 15 in the BWF rankings.