India's Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth both advanced to the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 badminton tournament on Wednesday, winning their opening-round matches at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, according to Olympics.com.

Source: Olympics.com via NewKerala

Eighth seed Lakshya defeated Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen 21-19, 21-18 in a 49-minute contest in the Round of 32. The Indian trailed 12-16 in the opening game before mounting a comeback to take it 21-19, and then held his nerve to close out the second game.

Source: RevSportz

The win was Lakshya's first competitive outing since he won the Hylo Open title in Germany earlier this month, and it extended his head-to-head record against Chi to 2-1, MyKhel reported.

Source: MyKhel

Srikanth's passage was far harder. The former world number one saved two match points to overcome Denmark's Rasmus Gemke 18-21, 21-16, 24-22 in a match lasting one hour and eight minutes, according to Olympics.com.

Source: Olympics.com via NewKerala

What next

Lakshya will next face China's Dong Tianyao on Thursday for a place in the quarterfinals. The Kumamoto Masters is a BWF Super 500 tournament being played from November 10 to 15.