AGENCIES
TOKYO
Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Japan Super Series via walkover after his opponent Ajay Jayaram retired at the end of the first game.
In a match lasting 19 minutes, Srikanth led by a game with a score of 21-16 before Jayaram conceded a walkover. Srikanth, seeded eighth, will now face Germany's Marc Zwiebler for a spot in the semis. The last time Srikanth had reached the semi-final of a tournament was at the Australian Open in June.
World No 10 Srikanth leads 2-1 in the head-to-head against World No 15 Zwiebler, with their last meeting coming at the 2014 China Open where the former registered a victory and eventually won the title. Srikanth, then unseeded, had also faced Zwiebler in the 2014 Japan Open where he suffered a first-round defeat.
HS Prannoy, the other Indian in the fray, lost 16-21, 19-21 to second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. The match lasted 44 minutes. Prannoy had previously defeated Malaysia's Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin to reach the last 16.
