Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty pair advances to Malaysia Open semi-final

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty staved off a stiff challenge from Yew Sing Ong and Ee Yi Teo of Malaysia 26-24, 21-15 to storm into the semifinals of the Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpuron Friday. The Indians, who lost in the finals of this Super-1000 event last year, saved four match points in the first and fought back a three-point deficit in the second to prevail over the local shuttlers in the 50-minute contest.
A bit rusty at times due to lack of match practice, Satwik-Chirag did not lose their nerve when they were tested in the first game. Leading 19-16 and then 20-19 in the first game, the Indians surrendered the advantage and struggled to save the next four game points (20-21, 21-22, 22-23, 23-24) before securing three straight points to take the game. In the second game, the Malaysian went into the break with a three-point advantage at 11-8. But it was a different game altogether after the two-minute interval as the Indians hit their rivals hard with their power-packed smashes. They soon led 15-12 and from 16-14, Satwik-Chirag raced to 20-14 leaving no chance of a comeback for their rivals.
In the semifinals, they will face Kim Won Ho and Jae Seo Seung of South Korea.
Chirag said that they couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year. “We started the year on a better note, couldn’t have asked for more. Before we came here our focus was to get as deep as possible in this tournament, let’s see how far we could go. The crowd was amazing, though they did not support us today as we were up against the local pair. We hope they will back us tomorrow,” Chirag said.
Though the Indians won in two games, Satwik said that the match was tough. “It was a tough match and it’s always like that against them. We were leading 19-16 in the first game but they came back. Though they had four consecutive game points we were not worried at all, we focused only on winning the next point,” Satwik said. From the top half of the draw, China's Bo Yang Chen and Yi Liu and Malaysia's Wei Chong Man and Kai Wun Tee reached the semifinals.