Japan Open: Srikanth prevails; Lakshya, Saina bow out

Srikanth outplayed an All England champion Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 22-20, 23-21 in a gruelling encounter.

He will be up against Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the next round.

"It was a close match and could have gone either way but I am happy with the way I played. It’s important to close out games at this high level because every match is going to be tough," Olympics.com quoted Srikanth as saying.

"I was leading 16-12 in the first game but found myself behind 20-18 after giving away too many points. I just told myself to be consistent and not give easy points. I am always happy to win and now I will go back and think about how to beat my next opponent," he said.

The All England runner-up Lakshya Sen,however, bowed out early after losing to local shuttler Kenta Nishimoto 21-18, 14-21, 13-21 in the preliminary round.

London Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal too knocked out after losing to reigning two-time world champion Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 9-21, 17-21.

The pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, who became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to make the world championship quarterfinals last week, suffered a 21-19, 21-23, 15-21 loss at the hands of Korean combination of Choi Soi Gyu and Kim Won Ho.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 21-17, 21-18 against Thailand's Jongkolphan Kitittharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.