Hylo Open 2026: Lakshya survives first-round scare; Unnati, Anmol and Isharani also advance

FILE PHOTO: India’s Lakshya Sen (in pic) took 61 minutes to oust Finland’s Joakim Oldorff in the opening round of the Hylo Open on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Lakshya Sen survived a first-round scare against Finland’s Joakim Oldorff at the Hylo Open Super 500 tournament in Saarbrücken, Germany, on Wednesday.

Seventh-seeded Indian Lakshya conceded the opener before taking down World No. 60 Oldorff 16-21, 21-9, 21-13 in 61 minutes, ending a run of four straight round-of-32 exits at BWF World Tour events.

In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda, Isharani Baruah and Malvika Bansod progressed to the round of 16 while Aakarshi Kashyap and Devika Sihag were knocked out.

Sixth-seeded Indian Unnati overcame a slow start to defeat World No. 77 Tereza Svabikova of Czechia 17-21, 21-12, 21-11. She will next meet Denmark’s Frederikke Østergaard, a shuttler ranked 116th in the BWF Rankings.

Malvika outlasted compatriot Devika 18-21, 21-10, 21-14 to set up a second-round clash against Canadian World No. 49 Wen Yu Zhang.

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Isharani survived a close first game to beat Miranda Wilson, the only German woman in the singles draw along with Yvonne Li, in 38 minutes with a 21-19, 21-9 scoreline. She will be up against eighth-seeded Dane Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt for a place in the quarterfinals.

In the battle between two 19-year-olds, Anmol Kharb beat Sri Lanka’s Ranithma Liyanage 21-18, 22-20 in 47 minutes. Third-seeded Dane Line Christophersen will be Anmol’s next opponent.

For Aakarshi, the struggle at the BWF World Tour events continued as she went down 12-21, 18-21 to Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova.

Later in the day, P. V. Sindhu, H. S. Prannoy, Ashmita Chaliha, Tharun Mannepalli, Kiran George and S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian will also begin their campaign in singles.