Kidambi Srikanth’s run ends at Japan Masters after tight loss to Watanabe

Kidambi Srikanth fell 22-24, 15-21 to home favourite Koki Watanabe in the quarterfinals, a day after he beat Kodai Naraoka for the first time in five meetings.

Kidambi Srikanth exited Japan Masters at the quarterfinal stage. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

India’s Kidambi Srikanth bowed out of the Japan Masters on Friday, losing 22-24, 15-21 to Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the quarterfinals. The match lasted 41 minutes.

The first game was a tense, closely fought affair that went past 20-all, and Watanabe, backed by the home crowd, edged it 24-22 to take the early lead.

Srikanth started the second game strongly, going into the interval with an 11-5 cushion. He was still comfortably ahead at 14-9, but Watanabe then produced a stunning turnaround. From 9-14 down he took 12 of the next 13 points to close the game 21-15 and win the match in straight games.

The defeat ended an otherwise encouraging week for Srikanth. Earlier in the tournament, he had registered his first win over fifth seed and home favourite Kodai Naraoka in their fifth meeting. Srikanth took that match 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 after losing the second game heavily.