Lakshya Sen, India’s only top-10 player in men’s singles, had to overcome nerves to seal his place in the second round of the BWF World Championships.

Up against the 128th-ranked Austrian Collins Valentine Filimon, the 14th seed Indian was blown away in the opening game as he struggled to counter the aggressive game of his opponent. Looking sluggish from the start, Sen, who won a bronze medal in 2021, was overwhelmed by the power game of the Austrian. Filimon’s crosscourt smashes and deceptive net-play had the Indian in all sorts of difficulty.

From 11-9, Filimon quickly wrapped up the game at 21-16 to stun the capacity crowd rooting for the home favourite. However, Sen looked a different player in the next two games and put the Austrian to the sword, winning the next two games 21-8 21-4 and sealing the match in 45 minutes.

Playing from the difficult side in the opening game, Sen was tentative with his lifts and line calls. But once he hit his stride, Sen rattled off winners, clinching 11 straight points from 10-8 to win the second game. Sen then simply blew away his opponent in the third game.

“I was tentative in the first game because I was playing from the difficult side and was struggling to get used to the conditions. But in the second game, I knew that I would be playing from the better side and once I found the range of my shots it was easy,” said Sen, who will play American Garret Tan in the second round.

In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda initially trailed Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar 13-16 in the opening game before going on to win 22-20 21-16 to set up a second round clash against 13th seed Canadian Michelle Li.

India’s top women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly beat 16th seeds Allison Lee and Lauren Lam 21-15 21-12 to advance to the Round of 16. However, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh failed to advance after losing 16-21 30-29 24-22 against Turkey’s Emre Sonmez and Yasemen Bektas.