Paris, Oct 21 (IANS) India’s Lakshya Sen made a disappointing early exit from the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris on Tuesday, going down in straight games to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the men’s singles opening round.

The World No. 16 looked out of rhythm throughout the contest and was beaten 7-21, 16-21 by the 29th-ranked Nhat, who avenged his loss to the Indian at the Denmark Open just last week.

Coming into the match as the favourite after a strong run to the Hong Kong Open final earlier this month, Lakshya struggled to find any consistency. From the outset, his timing and shot selection deserted him, with frequent unforced errors allowing his opponent to seize control.

Nhat, known for his steep smashes and sharp anticipation, capitalised on every loose return, while Lakshya’s deep tosses repeatedly missed the lines.

The tone was set early in the opening game when Lakshya trailed 2-7 following a series of wide and netted shots. Despite doing much of the hard work in rallies, he couldn’t finish points cleanly, often overhitting or playing into the tape. At the interval, he was six points behind, and the deficit only grew as Nhat raced to 19-7 before wrapping up the game with a crisp cross-court winner.

Switching sides brought little respite for the Indian shuttler. Nhat continued to dictate the pace, forcing Lakshya into defensive positions and errors. The Irishman jumped to a 6-1 lead, and although Lakshya briefly closed the gap to 4-6, a flurry of errant strokes saw Nhat regain full control to go into the mid-game break with an 11-5 advantage.

Lakshya showed glimpses of a fightback after the interval, narrowing the margin to 11-15 with a couple of well-timed smashes and flicks.

However, his inability to sustain pressure proved costly once again. At 14-17, a long rally ended with a backhand into the net, followed by two more mistakes that handed Nhat six match points. The Indian saved two, but the Irish shuttler sealed the match in 38 minutes with a deceptive cross-court winner that left Lakshya stranded.

–IANS

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