Shenzhen (China): India’s ace men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty battled through a gruelling three-game contest against Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen to storm into the semifinals of the China Masters Super 750 on Friday, even as veteran Kidambi Srikanth’s campaign ended in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
The fourth-seeded Indians prevailed 21-13, 16-21, 21-18 in a 70-minute battle to keep their impressive run going after a silver-medal finish at the Thailand Open Super 500 and a top-podium spot at the Singapore Open Super 750 in May.
Satwik and Chirag came out firing, racing to a 5-1 lead and dictating the rallies with a flurry of winners. They maintained their attacking rhythm to open up a seven-point cushion at 16-9 before comfortably pocketing the opening game.
Within the first five minutes of the start, the Indians opened up a seven-point lead, 11-4, at the mid-game interval. The second half of the game saw the Danes put up some resistance, taking their tally into double digits. However, the gap was too big for them to overturn as the Indians wrapped up the game in 16 minutes.
The Danish duo seemed to recuperate from that underwhelming first game quite quickly, never allowing a big gap to develop in the second. It was evident when Satwik and Chirag barely had their noses in front with an 11-10 lead in the interval.
At 15-15, Astrup and Rasmussen bagged three consecutive points to open up a considerable lead. Soon, the Danes had four game points and they converted the first one to force the decider.
With renewed confidence, the Danish pair maintained a three-point lead at 6-3 and 9-6, before it led 11-9 at the interval. Trailing 10-14, the Indians threatened to catch up with their opponents on two occasions but the European shuttlers always stayed at an arm’s distance.
Howeve, Satwik and Chirag finally equalised at 17-17 with a 36-shot rally, the longest of the game.
The Indians had three match points in no time, converting the second to end the 70-minute long thriller.
