Takayasu needed more than 2 minutes to earn his ninth victory of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday, but it was worth the wait for the komusubi.
Takayasu remained in sole possession of the lead on Day 10 at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan by topping ozeki Takakeisho and is two wins ahead of a pack of five wrestlers.
Takayasu and Takakeisho (6-4), who needs a majority of wins to retain his rank, spent much of the match locked together near the middle of the ring before the ozeki attempted a kick to get the komusubi off balance. The move backfired as Takayasu secured a grip on Takakeisho's belt and quickly threw the ozeki down for the victory.
Meanwhile, ozeki Asanoyama, the highest-ranked wrestler in the trailing pack, followed with a quick victory over sekiwake Takanosho to improve to 7-3.
Sekiwake Terunofuji earlier suffered his third loss of the tourney, falling to No. 3 maegashira Shimanoumi. The sekiwake moved his opponent across the ring at the jump-off, but couldn't finish him off near the bales. Shimanoumi eventually sent a stumbling Terunofuji to the surface of the dohyo for just his third victory.
In the final bout of the day, ozeki Shodai had little trouble taking care of No. 4 maegashira Myogiryu for just his fifth victory of the tourney.
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