Malaysia Open 2024: Satwik-Chirag pair reached semi-finals, defeated Chinese pair

The experienced Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked second in the world rankings, reached the second consecutive semi-final by defeating China’s Ren Jiang Yu and He Ji Ting in straight games in the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament held in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The Indian pair, who won the gold medal in the Asian Games last year, showed excellent coordination and control during the match and defeated the world ranking 32nd pair of Yu and Ting 21-11, 21-8 in a one-sided match that lasted just 35 minutes. Defeated. The second seeded Indian pair will have to face the winner of Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae and third seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to reach the final.

The pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto suffered a straight games defeat to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Ki Nakanishi in the women’s doubles quarterfinals. The Indian pair, ranked 24th in the world rankings, had earlier made headlines by defeating the top-ranked and two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.

The Indian pair, however, could not continue that performance and lost the match to Iwanaga and Nakanishi 15-21, 13-21 in a 39-minute match. This was the Indian pair’s second defeat against the Japanese pair, ranked 15th in the world rankings. Iwanaga and Nakanishi had defeated the pair of Ashwini and Tanisha in the final of the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow last month.

The Indian pair had also reached the finals of two tournaments in Lucknow and Odisha last month, besides winning the Guwahati Masters Super 100 title. Last year (2023) was great for Satwik and Chirag with six titles and they have continued that momentum in this tournament. This Chinese pair had given a tough competition to the Indian pair in the China Masters last year but they had no answer to the fast rally of Satwik and Chirag.

The Indians, with their control and play, did not give the Chinese pair any chance to handle and took a huge lead of 7-0 in the opening game. Satwik and Chirag were ahead 11-2 at the break and ended the first game quickly. The Indian pair was leading 11-2 at the time of the break. After the break, the Chinese pair tried to make a comeback but they failed in front of Chirag and Satwik. The Indians continued their momentum even after the change of ends and led 11-4 at the break. After the break, the Indian pair got 2 match points and they capitalized on it in the second chance itself to secure a place in the last four.