A second round match between two Indians at the Japan Open Superseries, that had the potential to be a thriller turned out to be a dampener, as Ajay Jayaram retired, thus making the passage for the eighth seed Kidambi Srikanth’s into the quarter-finals in Tokyo on Thursday. Jayaram called it a day at the end of the first game which Srikanth won 21-16 after 19 minutes of hard-fought action.
The reason for the World No. 19’s retirement is not yet known.
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Srikanth now goes on to meet the winner of the clash between Marc Zwiebler and Hsu Jen Hao in the last-eight stage.
This was the second consecutive time that the 13th ranked Indian faced his own countryman at this tournament. In the first round on Wednesday, the 23-year-old gave another example of his resilience and determination as he warded off a strong challenge from Parupalli Kashyap, who had to qualify for this event.
The two had fought tooth and nail for 1 hour 2 minutes before the eighth seed could finally prevail over Kashyap, 14-21 21-14 23-21.
A tough battle was on the cards
It looked to be heading the same way even in Thursday’s second round clash between Jayaram and Srikanth. The latter led their head-to-head meetings 3-0 prior to this showdown but the 28-year-old looked all set to record his maiden win over his higher-ranked rival.
With his fiery aggression, he got off to a 3-1 lead which he extended to 6-2 and then 9-4. But Srikanth remained unfazed. He closed the gap to 7-9 and then 9-10 before Jayaram took a slender lead of 11-9 at the mid-game interval.
It was a completely different scenario after the lemon break. Srikanth came back refreshed and evened at 11-11 and then jumped to a 14-12 lead. Jayaram seemed to struggle and could not catch up with his younger opponent’s pace.
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Jayaram’s movement looked sluggish as he looked to be bothered by an injury. In contrast, Srikanth kept on soaring with confidence and continued to bag the points. He inched ahead 17-13 and eventually finished the game at 21-16.
Later on, HS Prannoy will take on the second seed Viktor Axelsen for a place in the quarter-finals.
