Malaysia open: No stopping Satwik-Chirag, enter semis

Kuala Lumpur, January 12

Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their second successive semifinals after humbling China’s Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting in straight games at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 here today.

The world No. 2 Indian pair looked in complete control during the rallies and were also proactive at the net to eke out a dominating 21-11 21-8 win over world No. 32 Yu and Ting in just 35 minutes.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag, who had a sensational season in 2023 with six titles, produced a near-perfect game as they were fast in their exchanges. They controlled the pace in their rallies and also mixed things well to make it a one-sided affair.

The second-seeded Indians will next face South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, who beat the third-seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 16-21 21-18 21-13.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, however, suffered a 15-21 13-21 loss to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.

The world No. 24 Indians, who created a flutter after stunning former world No. 1 and twice world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara on Thursday, couldn’t replicate their performance against the combination of Iwanaga and Nakanishi and went down in a 39-minute match.

This was the Indian pair’s second loss to the world No. 15 Japanese duo, having suffered a narrow defeat in the final of the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow last month.