Indian star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the men's doubles final of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament. The pair registered a straight-game win over Korean opponents Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho on Saturday.
The Indian pair won the semifinal match that lasted for 45 minutes by 21-18 21-14.
Satwik and Chirag, the 2019 edition's runner-up pair, never looked in trouble as they kept things in their grip right from the start.
The Indians came up with an all-out attack and were up 2-0 early on and despite the Koreans managing to claw back at 7-7, Satwik and Chirag ensured they were four points ahead at the mid-game interval.
After the break, the Koreans briefly tried to dictate the pace of the rallies with their returns getting steeper. Soon they were 16-13 up, but an alert Chirag produced a precise return to keep moving ahead.
With the Indians hitting the net and out of the court on several occasions, the Koreans brought the equation down to 18-19 but Choi then committed an unforced error to hand two game points to their opponents.
Chirag sealed the first game with a smash. The Indian duo continued with their aggressive game plan in the second game which saw some good rallies early on. After 3-3, Satwik and Chirag moved to a 7-4 lead.
The Koreans, however, rallied their way back to 9-10 after a slew of exchanges but Chirag unleashed a smash to give themselves a two-point cushion at the interval.
Chirag took control of the frontcourt as he was more alert and produced some good shots even as the Korean pair found the going tough to lag 10-15.
Two net errors from Korea took the Indian pair to 18-12. A deceptive return-to-serve gave the Koreans one more point but Chirag responded with a body return.
Choi then hit wide to hand six match points to the Indians and Chirag sealed it with a smash and raised his arm even as his partner Satwik broke into a dance.
