Srikanth's Kumamoto run ends as Watanabe wins quarter-final after a 12-5 lead is lost

Kidambi Srikanth’s run at the Kumamoto Masters ended on Friday when Japan’s Koki Watanabe beat him 24-22, 21-15 in the men’s singles quarter-finals in Kumamoto, a BWF Super 500 event. Watanabe, ranked 15th in the world, beat the world No. 31 in two games after Srikanth had led by seven points in the second.

The result came a day after the 33-year-old from Guntur had produced his best win of the season, beating Japan’s world No. 8 and defending champion Kodai Naraoka in the round of 16.

How the quarter-final turned

The first game went to the wire and Watanabe took it 24-22. Srikanth, a former world No. 1, had beaten Watanabe twice before, though both of those meetings were close.

The second game looked to be heading Srikanth’s way. He led 12-5 and was in control of the rallies. From there Watanabe won 16 of the final 19 points to take the game 21-15 and the match, a collapse that left Srikanth with nothing to show for the early lead. He had been aiming for his first semi-final in five months.

The win over Naraoka

On Thursday, November 12, Srikanth had beaten the fifth seed 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 in about an hour at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. It was his first win over Naraoka in five meetings, and the Japanese player, a two-time world championships silver medallist, saved two match points in the decider before losing.

In the first game Srikanth recovered from 12-14 down with seven straight points. Naraoka levelled the match in the second, and the decider was level at 7-7 before Srikanth pulled clear.

A season of near misses

Srikanth reached the US Open final earlier this season and the quarter-finals of the China Masters, a Super 750 event, in September. He won a silver medal at the 2021 World Championships. Friday’s result is his second quarter-final exit at a Super-level event in two months, and it comes straight after his biggest win of the season.

Watanabe has booked his semi-final place; his opponent was not confirmed when this report was filed.

The rest of the Indian challenge

Srikanth was one of two Indian men in the quarter-finals. Lakshya Sen, the eighth seed and the Hylo Open champion, beat China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 in 35 minutes on Thursday and was due to play Japan’s Yushi Tanaka on Friday morning. Sen led their head-to-head 2-0 going in. Our report on his Hylo Open title is here.

The doubles players had already gone. Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun lost 21-14, 21-14 to Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the last 16, and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the World Championships bronze medallists, went down 21-14, 21-14 to third seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.

Why it matters

Srikanth goes into the rest of the season ranked 31st in the world, the position from which he beat the world No. 8 on Thursday. For Indian badminton the week leaves Lakshya Sen as the main singles hope at Kumamoto, after the doubles pairs and Srikanth had all gone out by Friday morning.

What next

Watanabe goes into the semi-finals. India’s interest in the singles now rests on the outcome of Lakshya Sen’s quarter-final against Yushi Tanaka, which was on court on Friday morning, Indian time, and whose result was not confirmed when this report was filed.