Satwik-Chirag pair enters Hong Kong Open semifinals

Hong Kong: Continuing their fine run in the Hong Kong Open, celebrated Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty cruised into the semifinal of the Super 500 badminton tournament, defeating their Malaysian opponents in three games, here on Friday.

Satwik and Chirag, who have been on a roll in the past few weeks having clinched the BWF World Championships bronze medal recently, displayed superb co-ordination to overwhelm the fighting duo of Arif Junaidi and Roy King Yap 21-14, 20-22, 21-16 in a 64-minute contest of the USD 500,000 event.

The eighth-seeded Indian pair made a slow start, but once they found momentum at 12-all, they surged ahead with powerful smashes, conceding little to their opponents and clinching the last five points in a row.

The Malaysians found their rhythm in the second game and made a strong comeback, matching the Indian's court coverage.

After trailing early one, they equalised at 6-all and after that never looked back managing to keep ahead of the eight-seeded Indian pair for most part before Satwik-Chirag drew parity at 20-all.

But the Malaysians managed to hang on to take the game make it 1-1.

In the decider, the Indians upped their game a few notches and didn't allow the opponents to even once take the lead or threaten them to grab an easy win in the end.

On Thursday, the world No. 9 Satwik and Chirag had edged out Thailand's Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul to secure a place in the quarterfinals.