Unheralded Indian Tharun Mannepalli kept alive the country's men's singles hopes at the Arctic Open 2025, staging a thrilling comeback to upset world No. 14 Toma Junior Popov of France, even as Lakshya Sen suffered his 10th first-round exit of the year in Vantaa, Finland, on Wednesday.
Mannepalli, ranked 46th, overcame a first-game loss to beat Popov 11-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a one-hour and eight-minute contest, saving four match points in the decider to pull off a remarkable win in the BWF Super 500 event.
He will take on world No. 18 Koki Watanabe of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals.
Paris Olympics semifinalist Lakshya fell 21-15, 21-17 in 57 minutes to World No. 11 and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
Lakshya struggled from the start, trailing 11-6 at the first-game interval and failing to mount a serious challenge.
The second game was closer at 11-10, but Naraoka shifted gears after the break, limiting Lakshya to seven more points.
This marked Sen's sixth defeat in eight matches against Naraoka and his 10th first-round exit of the 2025 season, although he did reach the final of last month's Hong Kong Open.
Other Indians also faced early exits.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth conceded a walkover to Denmark's Rasmus Gemke, while Kiran George retired in his second game after trailing 1-4 after conceding the opener 10-21 to Watanabe.
Sankar Subramanian went down 21-17, 21-11 to France's Christo Popov in 44 minutes, and Ayush Shetty lost 21-15, 21-16 against top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in 50 minutes.