Shenzhen (China): Indian men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dished out a solid performance on Friday. They outplayed the second seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark to progress to the semi-final of the China Masters.
In their first tournament after the Paris Olympics, Satwik-Chirag registered an easy win over the World No.2 pair in 47 minutes. The Asian Games gold medalists will now face either eighth seeds Japanese Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi or Korea’s Jin Yong and Seo Seung Jae in the last four fixtures.
In the first set of the match, the Indians showed impeccable gameplay as they took a lead of 11-8 at the break. Afterwards, they extended the lead to 16-10 with a flurry of fast-paced angled returns. The Indian duo then kept a firm grip on the rallies and maintained their lead to pocket the first set by 21-19.
The second set of the fixture was more competitive as both the pairs went neck to neck. The Indians grabbed a lead of 11-10 at the interval. The Satwik-Chirag duo moved 17-16 and finished off the match with the last two points in a row. A well-placed push from the Chirag took the Indian pair’s tally to 20 and then a rapid smash from Satwik finished off the game.
Earlier in the tournament, the Indian duo started their campaign with a win against Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei. The pair then defeated Rasmus KJÆR and Frederik SØGAARD of Denmark to enter the last 16.
