Macau Open 2025: Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag march into quarter-finals as India's women's campaign end

Tharun Mannepalli took down the top seed to advance into Macau Open 2025 quarter-finals.

On a high-stakes Day 3 at the BWF Macau Open 2025, Lakshya Sen, Tharun Mannepalli, and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the quarter-finals, keeping India’s hopes alive across two events.

However, unfortunately, India’s campaign in the women’s events came to an early end, with Rakshitha Sree and the women’s doubles pair Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra bowing out in the round of 16.

World No. 17 Lakshya Sen claimed the hard-fought three-game victory over Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the round of 16 match. The Indian took the first game 21-14 but stumbled in the second 14-21.

He then, pulled off a stunning comeback to seal the decider 21-17. With this, Sen advanced to the quarter-finals, where he will face China’s Zhu Xuan Chen.

Meanwhile, in one of the most thrilling matches of the day, India’s rising star Tharun Mannepalli battled past Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in a three-game thriller. After narrowly losing the first game 19-21, Mannepalli dug deep to take the next two 21-14, 22-20. He will now face China’s Hu Zhe An in the quarterfinals.

India’s men’s singles campaign suffered a setback when Ayush Shetty bowed out in the Round of 16, falling to Malaysia’s J. Hoh 18-21, 16-21 despite a promising start in the tournament.

Speaking of Satwik-Chirag, the world No. 9 men’s doubles pair kept their hunt for a first title of the season alive with a comeback win over the Japanese duo of Kakeru Kumagai and Hiroki Nishi.

After dropping the first game 10-21, the Indian duo bounced back beautifully to take the next two 21-20, 21-16 and win the match. They now face Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal in the quarterfinals on Friday.

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It was a rough day for India in the mixed doubles, as the fifth-seeded pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto suffered a surprise exit against Malaysia’s Lai Pei Jing and Jonathan Wong.

The men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek also crashed out, losing 18-21, 18-21 to Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.

As the Macau Open heads into its last eight battles, India’s hopes now rest on three shoulders — Sen and Mannepalli in men’s singles, and Satwik-Chirag in men’s doubles.

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