Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the men's doubles final of the Singapore Open Super 750 tournament on Saturday, defeating the top-seeded and world No. 1 pair Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea in straight games. The fourth-seeded Indian duo triumphed 21-19, 21-18 in a semifinal that lasted 52 minutes, outplaying the reigning world champions with a composed performance.
Dominant Display Against Top Seeds
The match was closely contested from the start. The Korean pair led 13-11 at the mid-game interval of the first game, but Satwik and Chirag stayed in touch and fought back to take the game 21-19. In the second game, the Indians again found themselves trailing, 11-14 at one stage. However, they recovered once more, winning key points in the closing stages to complete a straight-game victory and register their first win over the Korean duo.
Confidence and Strategy
After the match, Chirag Shetty highlighted the pair's unwavering belief. "Even when we were down, we kept backing each other and stuck around. Eventually, we knew they would crack at some point, and if we stuck to our plans, we knew it would work. We had that belief, and it went well for us," he said. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy explained the approach that turned the match around: "Just keep pushing on to the net. I felt they were not in a comfortable position to defend. It's always a slow start for us; we need to adjust a little bit."
Final Showdown Awaits
Satwik and Chirag will now face the winner of the other semifinal between Indonesia's third-seeded pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and China's fifth-seeded duo of Liang Wei Kang and Chang Wang in Sunday's final. The Indian pair is confident of continuing their strong form.
Progress and Improvement
Chirag also spoke about the pair's steady progress. "I think we are in the right direction, and improvement is an ongoing process. You will never be perfect; there is always scope for improvement. We keep pushing ourselves, and we think we are on the right track." The win was the first for Satwik and Chirag against the world No. 1 Korean combination, despite having pushed them close in previous meetings. "We only played them twice actually, once last year in India Open and Malaysia Open semis and China finals. It went close, but we realized if we have to beat them, we have to be steady because we knew they have the strongest defense in the circuit," Chirag added.
Disappointment in Mixed Doubles
However, there was disappointment for Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto in mixed doubles. The Indian pair went down 16-21, 21-17, 13-21 to Japan's Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara in the semifinals, ending their campaign.
