Satwiksairaj-Chirag move to QFs of China Open

Beijing [China], September 18 (ANI): The Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made it to the quarterfinals of the ongoing China Open, securing a win over Chinese Taipei's Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin on Thursday.

Satwik and Chirag, who recently finished runners-up at the Hong Kong Open, made light work out of Chieh and Chi-Lin, beating them in straight games by 21-13 and 21-12 in just 33 minutes, as per a press note from the Badminton Association of India (BAI).

They will next face China's Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, the popular duo entered the round of 16 with a straight-games win over Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap, 24-22, 21-13 in 42 minutes.

The two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the Li-Ning China Masters 2025, defeating World No. 6 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the Round of 16. She registered a straight-games victory, winning 21-15, 21-15 in 41 minutes at the Shenzhen Arena.

Sindhu started her campaign at the ongoing China Masters with a win over Denmark's Dawall Jakobsen in the first round on Tuesday. As per ESPN, Sindhu defeated her opponent Jakobsen in two straight games by 21-5 and 21-10 in just 27 minutes.

It would be crucial for Sindhu to go far in this competition, as she has had a season to forget so far, suffering six first-round exits in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour this year.

Sindhu started really well, racing to a massive lead and wiping off the first game in over 10 minutes. This pattern continued in the second game as well, with Sindhu closing out the game in 17 minutes and defeating Jakobsen for the third time.

The veteran shuttler will be aiming to roll back the clock and repeat her heroics in China when she won the China Open in 2016. Her best performances this year have been quarterfinal finishes in the India Open and BWF World Championships.

Ayush Shetty had a disappointing outing as he faced a first-round exit at the hands of sixth-seeded Chou Tien Chen 19-21, 21-12, 16-21 in a close battle. The Indian star gave a considerable amount of fight, taking the match to a decider, but could not close it with a win.

Ayush is the only Indian to have captured a title in the BWF World Tour scene this year, having won the US Open title back in June, beating Canada's Brian Yang in the finals.

The tournament will continue until September 21. (ANI)

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