Thrice, Kento Momota has denied Kidambi Srikanth a shot at progressing in the All England. The Japanese is expected to make life miserable for everyone starting with the Asian Games and going right upto the Olympics at home. More immediately though, Srikanth runs into the highly-rated left-hander at Malaysia in the semifinals on Saturday.

Momota is currently on a 17-match streak in which he has twice swatted the Olympic champion Chen Long, waved away World No.1 Viktor Axelsen, avenged a loss to Chou Tien Chen of Taipei with two straight wins, and pinned down Anthony Ginting by changing his game midway so drastically that the Indonesian didn’t know what hit him in the opener at Bukit Jalil.

Srikanth, who is trying to recapture the silken form that gave him a bunch of titles around same time last year, trails the Japanese 3-5 through his career, but would want to set the tone for the season where he’ll run into Momota invariably, sooner or later. The Japanese literally has two different games – an all-out attack and a persevering grind – both of which he switches between easily. That, combined with his chameleon speed and the southpaw angles, will be something Srikanth will come up against routinely in the coming two years.

Srikanth who made the World No.1 earlier this year, has slipped a tad to No 7, but has put his head down in training while coming into Malaysia. Both Malaysia and Indonesia are as such bit battles ahead of the two biggies – World Championships and the Asian Games, and should be seen as that, both to send early signals and recce opponents.

Momota, a prodigiously talented shuttler, was dropped by Japan after a gambling violation in a casino, but has returned with double the drive and focus. He’s not unbeatable of course – Indian Sameer Verma shook him off in the Swiss Open in February. But both Momota (23) and Srikanth (25) are different and more mature players since the last time they met across the court. Malaysia could well be considered the season’s Round 1 in pugilistic terms.

Srikanth might not be riding a wave of great results from the last two months, but his game when pitted against Momota’s holds potential, given how both are part skilled and part cerebral with a decent dose of unpredictability in both their arsenals.

Getting the better of another illustrious left-hand on the circuit was PV Sindhu who looked in command during her 22-20, 21-19 win against Spaniard and Olympic champ Carolina Marin. It still lasted 53 intense minutes though, after Sindhu failed to break away for a safe cushioning lead till 15-all. At that juncture, and as if sensing the need for what in tennis would be called a ‘serve break’, Sindhu would whip up three points in a row. But the famous Rio Games battlers were at it again, when Marin – who’s not won much since her title – rattled off five points to go 20-18 up.

It needed some doggedness on Sindhu’s part grab the next four points and take the set lead. In the second, the Indian would run up 13-6 with a 7-point surge but Marin would come needling and reduce the gap to 20-19. Sindhu though, was hitting sharp and finished off before hitting the hour-mark with Marin too expected to hit the high notes only at the Worlds.