China Masters: Satwik-Chirag duo enters semifinal, error-prone Prannoy exits
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the men's doubles semifinal at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament here on Friday. Top seeds Satwik and Chirag dished out an attacking game to outwit world no. 13 Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia 21-16 21-14 in 46 minutes.
However, world no. 8 Prannoy had a bad day in office as he struggled to curb his errors and went down 9-21 14-21 against Japan's world championships silver medallist Kodai Naraoka in a lop-sided contest later in the day.
Satwik and Chirag, who won the Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Super 300 this year, will face Chinese pair He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu next.
The former world number one Indian duo showed coordination. They interchanged their positions frequently and also altered the direction of their stinging attack which made life difficult for their Indonesian rivals, who wilted under pressure.
The match started on an even keel with both the pairs fighting tooth and nail.
But the Indian combination soon started dominating the proceedings with an onslaught of attacking shots to break off at 14-14.
Chirag made some right judgements and they were 19-16 up soon and then the Mumbaikar displayed his attacking intent once again, coming to the front court after serving to quickly close out the issue with a quick return.
The Indians kept up the tempo to surge to a 5-2 lead early in the second game.
A few taps went to the net from but they ensured a two-point lead at 7-5 with Satwik unleashing a stiff return.
A flurry of smashes took the Indians to a healthy 11-6 advantage at the interval.
The Indonesians couldn't match the attack of their rivals, who were relentless from the first point.
