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.
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.
