India’s Lakshya Sen dared to dream against the most accomplished badminton player in the world but eventually bowed out in three games to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in the second round of the New Zealand Open Super 300 tournament on Thursday.

Sen, 16, who had nothing lose against the far more experienced and celebrated Chinese, would have surprised many as he won the first game 21-15, but that was more down to Lin’s carelessness than the Indian teenager’s skill. Lin eventually found his form as he took the next two games rather easily, 21-15 and 21-12.

The 34-year-old Lin was slow to get off the blocks as he committed numerous unforced errors in the first game, uncharacteristically missing many net dribbles and giving Sen easy points. Among the last five points of the first game, all of which were won by Sen, nearly all were faults by the experienced Chinese that could have been avoided. Even Sen would have been surprised, but thrilled nonetheless, as he took the first game comfortably.

Lin, who is playing this Super 300-ranked tournament only as practice ahead of the Thomas Cup later this month, then flicked on his switch from the second game onwards. What followed was a masterclass for the young Sen to learn from. Lin started making Sen cover all four quadrants of his court and even a couple of contentious line calls against him could not stop the Chinese from taking the second game 21-15 to take the match into a decider.

The third game was more of the same, as Lin took full advantage of the lack of a good retrieving game in the young Indian. The 16-year-old Sen carried on with his aggressive play, dominated by smashes, but failed to engage Lin in rallies. The Chinese legend eventually took the deciding game 21-12 to seal the match and progress to the quarter-finals.

Lin will next take on another Indian – fifth seed Sameer Verma, who beat Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-17, 21-19. B Sai Praneeth also reached the last eight after beating Malaysia’s Daren Liew 21-18, 21-17. Ajay Jayaram, however, crashed out after losing to Korea’s Kwang Hee Heo 21-15, 20-22, 21-6.

Earlier, India’s mixed doubles pairs Shivam Sharma-Poorvisha Ram and Rohan Kapoor-Kuhoo Garg also lost their second-round matches in straight games.