At the India Open Super 750, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, who won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were one step away from their maiden trophy of the season after defeating Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the India Open Super 750 on Saturday. World No. 2 Indians, who finished second at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week, had steely nerves as they held off Aaron and Soh, the 2022 World champions, to win 21-18 21-14 in a tense quarterfinal match. Satwik erupted into a dance as Chirag sprang into his arms, celebrating their victory after winning 11 of the last 12 points in the second game.
They had only triumphed three times versus the Malaysian team.
In what turned out to be a lopsided match at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here, world no. 2 Shi Yu Qi of China defeated HS Prannoy 21-15 21-5, ensuring that the home challenge in the Super 750 tournament remained alive.
In the summit match, third-seeded Koreans Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae will take on Satwik and Chirag, who had won the 2022 edition.
In the second game, play was stopped at 13-13 after Chirag’s return struck Aaron’s eyes during a furious rally. Aaron appeared fine when play resumed, albeit the Indians pair dominated the remaining moments.
Prannoy, the ninth-ranked player in the world, had earlier been level with his opponent. However, following a 14–14 draw in the first game, he vanished from sight as Shi Yu Qi won 21–15, 21–5, in what ended up being a lopsided match at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here.
Prannoy became careless in the second game, but Shi Yu Qi outplayed him by moving easily around the court and playing with patience and accuracy.
With two high returns and a net duel victory, Prannoy took a 6-3 lead in the opening game. Shi Yu Qi tied the score at 6-6 after an Indian backhand that went to net and another net error.
To get to 10-8, the Chinese played a pair of attractive around-the-head smashes. Prannoy fought back once more, but Shi Yu Qi scored another accurate smash to go into the break ahead by one point.
Lead exchanged hands much too often as the two fought fiercely together till 14-14.
However, the Indian appeared to have lost concentration as he sent his serve into the net, and Shi Yuqi followed up with a smash and a net kill to make it 17–14.
The Chinese converted it by hitting another one past Prannoy, and it was five game points after another smash on his opponent’s forehand.
After the switch, Shi Yu Qi appeared to be the superior player because to his polished net play and several outstanding drops that gave him a 6-3 lead. Prannoy simply didn’t look like himself.
The Chinese player appeared to be in command as he controlled the rallies and frequently ended the game with accurate smashes on the wings.
Prannoy’s mistakes continued as his blocks were long and went to the net. At the half, Shi Yu Qi had a commanding 11-4 lead.
The Chinese player displayed patience as he used reverse hits, drops and half smashes, and drawing mistakes from his opponent to break the momentum of the rallies.
Prannoy’s nonverbal cues revealed his inability to exert any pressure on his highly anticipated opponent. The Chinese quickly took a 17–5 lead. He secured the victory with 15 match points when the Indian went long once more.
“I gave two or three points in the end, but I felt that the first game was quite contrived. In the second game, I had trouble moving around. Give him credit; he makes some excellent shots. Though happy to have advanced to the semifinals, he stated that more work needed to be done in order to continue and win competitions.
“Now is not the time to overanalyze. It’s a lesson in learning. I want to improve the next time.” After upsetting Japan’s silver medallist Kodai Naraoka 21-13 15-21 21-19 to earn a spot in his first Super 750 men’s singles final at the India Open, Shi Yu Qi will play Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the finals.
In the previous year, the World No. 18 Lee advanced to the finals of the Thailand Open Super 500 and the Hylo Open Super 300.
China’s Chen Yu Fei defeated her countrymate Wang Zhi Yi in straight games in the women’s singles category, resetting the Tokyo Olympics summit matchup against Tai Tzu Ying of Taipei.
Chen Yu Fei, the gold medallist from the Olympics in Tokyo, defeated Wang Zhi Yi 21-13 21-18 in the semifinals. In the first women’s singles semifinal, Tai Tzu Ying defeated world no. 20 Yeo Jia Min 21-13 21-18 to advance to her second consecutive women’s singles final of the season.
