Japan Open | Kidambi Srikanth enters quarterfinals after Ajay Jayaram's injury
After a second unfortunate draw for India in the Japan Open, Kidambi Srikanth walked into the quarterfinals of the men's singles event after his compatriot Ajay Jayaram pulled out of the match due to an injury in the first set. Srikanth will now face Germany's Marc Zwiebler in the next round.
After edging out Parupalli Kashyap in a tense match on Wednesday, Kidambi Srikanth faced yet another Indian shuttler in the form of Ajay Jayaram in the second round of Japan Open. After being pushed to his limits against Kashyap in the first round, Srikanth once again found it difficult to overcome Kashyap in the first set as both the players were tied at 11-11.
But Srikanth took the control of the match from there as he led the set from 14-12 to make it 17-13 in no time. Then, he wrapped up the set quickly at 21-16. But, the match came to an abrupt end as Ajay seemed to have hurt his left ankle to give Srikanth a walk-over into the next round.
Germany's Marc Zwiebler will now face Srikanth in the quarterfinals on Friday after defeating Taiwan's Hsu Jen Hao 21-14, 21-18 in Round 2. India's hopes now rest solely on Srikanth as one more Indian HS Prannoy lost the second round tie to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.