Paris (French): The winning run of the Indian badminton pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued on Tuesday as they won against the Indonesian pair of Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian by 21-13, 21-13. Sat-chi showed their aggression throughout the match to win the contest with ease.
It took just 40 minutes for the Indian pair and they entered quarterfinals with the victory. The scorecard did;t reflect the intensity the fixture had. The World No.6 pair made them work hard for the win in some parts of the game but Sat-Chi were too good for the Indonesian pair. After the mid-set break, the Indian duo raised the intensity of their flat pushes and thundering smashes.
The Indonesian pair showed some skill in the second set hitting cross-court drops and powerful flat drives. They preferred to play close to the net but Sat-Chi leveled up their game and finished the set by 21-13 once again. Although they lost the second set, Indonesian pair tested the Indian duo throughout the proceedings.
The main point of difference was the quality of the returns from both pairs. Satwik and Chirag found tough spaces on the court very often while the Indonesians were not up the mark while returning the shuttler to the opposition’s court. Also, Satwik and Chirag were better at court coverage and that also helped them ink an easy win.
With the win, the Indian pair has finished at the top of their group and will wait for draws to know whom they will be playing in the quarter-finals.
