India’s Kidambi Srikanth was shocked by unseeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the men’s singles opening round of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
Nishimoto beat Kidambi 21-19, 21-14 in 42 minutes.
Coming into the match, Srikanth was leading 5-1 in the head-to-head record. The Japanese shuttler’s win over the ace Indian is the first since he defeated the Indian in the 2018 Hong Kong Open.
Tuesday’s match was world no 13’s seventh international meeting with Nishimoto and the first since the 2019 Indonesia Open where Srikanth toppled the Japanese in straight games.
Srikanth, ranked 13th, fought hard in the opening game, but Nishimoto managed to take the lead.
The two shuttlers were tied at 12-12 in the second game but the Japanese ran away with the contest from there.
Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wen-chi 10-21, 8-21 in the women’s singles.
Saina Nehwal went down fighting 12-21,21-17, 12-21 to unseeded Han Yue of China.
Having lost the first game, Saina, who has slipped to world number 30, fought back to force a decider in a women’s singles first round match.
However, the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist fell behind as Han built a sizable lead to take the fixture comfortably.
Later in the day, Commonwealth Games 2022 bronze medallist women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were the only team to begin their campaign with a 21-19, 21-14 win over Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong.
The men’s doubles duo of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala lost to the Korean combination of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 10-21, 18-21.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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