India's Lakshya Sen advanced to the semifinals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 on Friday, defeating home favourite Yushi Tanaka in straight games in their men's singles quarterfinal, RevSportz reported.

Source: RevSportz

The eighth-seeded Indian won 21-16, 21-15 in a 40-minute contest. Sen led 11-8 at the interval in the opening game and 11-9 in the second before closing out the match, extending his head-to-head record against Tanaka to 3-0, according to Apex Sports News and MyKhel.

It was a mixed day for India. Kidambi Srikanth, who had stunned world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka a day earlier to reach the quarterfinals, bowed out with a 22-24, 15-21 defeat to Japan's Koki Watanabe. Sen is now the only Indian remaining in the competition.

Sen arrived in Japan in strong form after winning the Hylo Open title in Germany earlier this month. MyKhel reported that the world No. 13 remains in contention to break into the top eight of the BWF World Tour rankings and qualify for the season-ending tournament in China.

21-16, 21-15Quarterfinal score against Tanaka
40 minutesMatch duration
3-0Sen's head-to-head lead over Tanaka

Sen will face Indonesia's Alwi Farhan in the semifinals. The Japan Masters is being played at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium from November 10 to 15, with total prize money of US$500,000.