Japan Open: Srikanth advances; Lakshya, Saina exit

Kidambi Srikanth scored a stunning straight-games victory over world No. 4 Lee Zii Jia, but Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Osaka, on Wednesday.

Srikanth, a former world No. 1, recovered from his early exit in last week's World Championships, to outwit fifth seed Lee 22-20, 23-21 in his men's singles opener, which lasted 37 minutes.

It was his first victory over the Malaysian in four meetings.

The 21-year-old Sen, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, however, squandered an opening game advantage and went down 21-18, 14-21, 13-21 to world No. 21 Japanese Kenta Nishimoto.

In the women's singles, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was no match for top seed Akane Yamaguchi. She lost 9-21, 17-21 to the local favourite in 30 minutes.

The fast-rising men's doubles pairing of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, who rose nine places to No. 26 after a quarter-final finish at the World Championships, also lost. They were beaten 21-19, 21-23, 15-21 to the Korean combination of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho after wasting a match point in the second game.

Birmingham Commonwealth Games women's doubles bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly lost 17-21, 18-21 to seventh seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand.

The mixed doubles pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also lost. They were beaten 11-21, 10-21 by Chinese top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in 23 minutes.

It was a gritty performance from world No. 14 Srikanth, who is often guilty of not being able to close out narrow matches despite doing all the hard work in setting up the points.

On Wednesday, the Indian ace again found himself in a similar position when he almost wasted a 15-11 advantage by allowing Lee to grab three game points, but held his nerve to reel off five points on the trot and leave his younger opponent stranded and seal the opening game.

Stung by the opening game reverse, Lee showed purpose after the change of sides. He opened up a 2-0 lead early on and ensured at slender one-point advantage in the interval.

He stepped up a gear to move to 14-11 but soon things changed as Srikanth grabbed a 18-16 lead and stood just two points away from victory at 20-18.

It seemed there would be another twist in the tale as Lee saved two match points and earned himself a game point but Srikanth ensured there were no hiccups as he pocketed the required three points to shut the door on the Malaysian.

In the other singles, Lakshya was by far the better player in the opening game as he quickly ran up a 7-2 lead and jumped to 15-9 at one stage, before pocketing it game comfortably.

The Indian made a good start to the second, opening up 8-4 lead but soon lost control as Nishimoto dished out a sensational fightback to win nine of the next 10 points to roar back into the contest.

Suddenly the momentum completely shifted as Lakshya seemed clueless even as Nishimoto dominated from the start to keep moving ahead as the Indian crumbled in the decider.

On Tuesday, H S Prannoy had advanced to the second round after his opponent Hong Kong's Ng ka Long Angus retired midway through the contest.