Lakshya Sen lost his maiden quarterfinal at the All England Open in Birmingham on Friday. Sen, 19, who became the youngest Indian man to make the last eight of the prestigious tournament on Thursday, lost 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands in 55 minutes.
Earlier on Friday, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy, the first Indian women's doubles team to reach the All England Open quarterfinals, lost 22-24, 12-21 to Selena Piek and Cheryl Seinen of the Netherlands in a 39-minute quarterfinal.
In the first game, World No. 28 Lakshya, ranked eight places above 26-year-old Caljouw, went into the break trailing 11-8. Caljouw then won four of the next six points to lead 15-10. Lakshya fought back to cut Caljouw's lead to 17-14 and then to 19-17, but Caljouw, who managed to stay in front, won the next two points to close out the game.
In the second game, there was little to separate the two players for the first nine points. From 5-4 up, Lakshya won six of the next eight points to lead 11-6 at the changeover. Afterwards, he extended his lead to 15-8 before Caljouw fought back to make it 15-12. Lakshya snapped Caljouw's run by winning five of the next seven points to bring up six game points at 20-14. He converted on his third game point to force a decider.
The third game began like the second one, but this time it was Caljouw who put his foot on the pedal from 3-2 down to make it 9-3, and went into the break 11-6. He held on to that five-point lead at 16-11, when Lakshya fought back with five straight points to level scores. Unfortunately for the Indian, Caljouw quickly won five of the next six points to close out the match and advance to the semifinals.
Losses for Lakshya and Ponnappa-Reddy mean that the only Indian left in the draw is PV Sindhu, who faces third-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in her quarterfinal later on Friday.