Malaysia Open: Satwik-Chirag continue to fly high

Kuala Lumpur, January 11

India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their impressive run to advance to the men’s doubles quarterfinals but Kidambi Srikanth failed to cross the second round at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 here today.

World No. 2 Satwiksairaj and Chirag, who had a stellar run in 2023 with six titles, beat France’s world No. 36 Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-11 21-18 to set up a clash with China’s world No. 32 He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu.

The Indian women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who claimed the Guwahati Masters Super 100 title last month, shocked the seventh-seeded Japanese pair of Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto 21-19 13-21 21-15 to inch closer to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Srikanth, however, failed to rein in his errors and went down 13-21 17-21 to Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus in the second round.

A series of unforced errors and poor line judgements put Srikanth on the back foot as world No. 20 Long looked in fine fettle during their 38-minute match.