Lakshya Sen into Kumamoto Masters semi-finals as Watanabe ends Srikanth’s run

Lakshya Sen is into the semi-finals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan after beating home player Yushi Tanaka 21-16, 21-15 on Friday, 13 November. The eighth seed needed 40 minutes, and he is now the only Indian still playing at the BWF Super 500 event.

Kidambi Srikanth went out one round short of him. A day after upsetting fifth seed Kodai Naraoka, he went down 22-24, 15-21 against Japan’s Koki Watanabe in 41 minutes. The opening game ran to extra points before Watanabe closed it out 24-22, and the Japanese player pulled clear in the second.

Srikanth, born in Ravulapalem in Andhra Pradesh and world No. 1 in 2018, had won two three-game matches to reach the last eight. He beat Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke 18-21, 21-16, 24-22 in the first round, then came past Naraoka 21-15, 11-21, 21-18.

Farhan next for Lakshya

Lakshya meets Indonesia’s sixth seed Alwi Farhan in the semi-finals on Saturday, 14 November. Farhan beat his compatriot Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah 21-17, 21-12 in 43 minutes. He has beaten Lakshya before: in the Macau Open semi-finals in August 2025, and in an Indonesia Open first-round match on 2 June 2026.

Lakshya has not dropped a game in Kumamoto. He opened with a 21-19, 21-18 win over Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei and then beat China’s Dong Tianyao 21-8, 21-14. He came to Japan as the Hylo Open champion, having won the title in Saarbrücken earlier in November.

Seeds fall in the men’s draw

The other semi-final puts the unseeded Watanabe against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the second seed and 2023 world champion. Kunlavut beat France’s seventh seed Toma Junior Popov 21-18, 21-7. Watanabe had already knocked out third seed Chou Tien Chen 24-22, 21-19 in the round of 16, the same round in which top seed Christo Popov and fourth seed Victor Lai lost.

The official draw lists both semi-finals as yet to be scheduled. Kumamoto is three and a half hours ahead of India. The final is on Sunday, 15 November.