Overview
- Lakshya Sen beat Chi Yu Jen 21-19, 21-18 and then China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 to reach the Kumamoto Masters quarterfinals on Thursday and preserve his momentum from the Hylo Open.
- Kidambi Srikanth defeated Kodai Naraoka 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 on Thursday to record his first victory in five meetings with the Japanese player and deliver one of his biggest results of the season.
- India’s mixed doubles campaign ended early when Dhruv Rawat/K. Maneesha lost to Ye Hong-wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan 16-21, 21-14, 21-14 and Hariharan Amsakarunan/Tanisha Crasto fell 7-21, 9-21 to top seeds Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin.
- Sen is scheduled to face Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in the last eight while Srikanth meets Koki Watanabe, with both quarterfinals part of the Nov. 10–15 Kumamoto Super 500 event.
- The Kumamoto Masters is a BWF Super 500 tournament with a US$500,000 purse and Race-to-Finals points at stake, making Sen’s wins important for his bid to move into the top eight and for India’s singles momentum going into December.