Kidambi Srikanth's 13-match winning streak came to an abrupt halt as he lost 14-21, 18-21 to world number one Son Wan Ho of South Korea in the quarterfinals of the World Championships in Glasgow on Friday.
Having lost both his previous matches to Srikanth this year, Son made a concerted effort to be more aggressive, and his consistent play helped him seal victory in 48 minutes, despite a spirited fightback from the Indian in the second game. Son will face China's Lin Dan in the semifinals.
What about Srikanth, though? It might seem unfathomable now but the Indian was ranked as low as 31 in March this year. He is now 10th in the world but is number one in the Destination Dubai rankings (rankings which only take Superseries tournaments into account). Therefore, the Destination Dubai rankings, which decide the top eight players who will play the season-ending Finals in Dubai, are a better indicator of a player's performance in a year as they only take the current year into account, unlike the World rankings.
Despite Srikanth's defeat, the year he has had must be appreciated. His winning run encompassed two Superseries titles - Indonesia and Australia - and an appearance in the final in Singapore. The big three of Chen Long, Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei have in total won two Superseries titles and made four finals this year.
Arguably, he has been the best player of this season, having won two of the six biggest tournaments on offer.
So what went wrong?
As Son raced away to a 6-1 lead in the opening game, Srikanth might have had a feeling of déjà vu as the match seemed to be following a script similar to his match against Lin in the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics last year.
Srikanth appeared jittery and nervous from the outset and even though he leveled scores at 6-6, it was all one-way traffic from there as Son led for the remainder of the first game.
However, unlike the match in Rio, Srikanth seemed to control the flow of points in the first game but it was his placement that let him down frequently. Also struggling with the drift, Srikanth sought to overcome it by using too much power and it cost him as he pushed his smashes wide and floated a couple of lifts and drives out of play.
Trailing 5-16 in the second game, Srikanth began to rouse himself back into the contest. A series of brilliant strokes - his full range was on display - opened up the court on Son's forehand. One point was won when Son backtracked, anticipating a crosscourt smash after Srikanth had employed it to win two points previously; instead, Srikanth effected a jump drop. Son was nowhere near the shuttle.
Son began to grow wise to the tactic and started to cover his forehand side. At 14-19, Son thought he had his forehand covered but Srikanth threaded a down-the-line smash, which Son had no answer to. That seemed to spur Srikanth on as he then landed a down-the-line smash on Son's backhand that the Korean did not even attempt to retrieve.
Srikanth had won seven points on the trot to cut Son's lead down to 18-17, a stage when the Korean seemed like a mere bystander to the action. One of the points involved Srikanth coming up with three retrievals on the trot that were scarcely believable and all Son could do was offer a wry smile in appreciation.
But Srikanth's inconsistency undid him. At 17-18, with an easy shot at the net to level scores, Srikanth missed. Son then brought up two match points and converted on the first.
What does this loss mean for Srikanth?
Having had the upper hand over Son this year, Srikanth missed out on a good opportunity to win a medal at the Worlds but Son showed why he is ranked where he is by playing one of his best matches this year.
There are six more Superseries events as well as the Finals in Dubai to go this year and Srikanth will look to continue his steady rise up the rankings and improve upon his career-best ranking of number three. He also has the added incentive of aiming to become the first Indian man to win three Superseries titles in a year.
While this loss will rankle, it is only a temporary blip and Srikanth will start as one of the favourites at the Korea Open in a little over a fortnight.