Japan Open: Zii Jia loses to Kidambi in first round

It was yet another early exit for Lee Zii Jia, who crashed out of the Japan Open first round at the hands of K. Srikanth 20-22, 21-23 on Wednesday.

The first round blow came on the back of a second-round loss at the Malaysia Open, followed by the World Championships third-round exit last week.

The Asian champ also missed out on the Malaysia Masters and Commonwealth Games to nurse an injury and prepare for the world meet.

But it was not going well for the Kedah-born, who needed to be at his best against Srikanth, but ultimately lost in straight games.

Lee made it hard for himself when he dropped three game points in the first game.

Srikanth did well to claw his back from 17-20 down by playing the shuttle close to the net, as Lee tried to kill the game off and committed numerous errors for the Indian to complete the comeback.

The second game was as intense as the first, and Lee was surprisingly restrained in his approach as he opted to play more dropshots instead of probing for openings to smash.

But he also continued to make mistakes and allowed Srikanth to once again save match point in deuce and seal the deal after 38 minutes.