French Open 2022: Satwik/Chirag give India first win on Day 1- Updates, Scores, Blog
The Men's Doubles pair defeated the Popov brothers in a three-set thriller.
Satwik/Chirag after their win against the Popov brothers. (Screengrab: BWF TV YouTube)
Day 1 of the French Open although started bad for the Indian shuttlers, ended quite well. The first match saw Mixed Doubles pair Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto lose in straight sets to Japanese pair Yamashita/Shinoya (13-21, 16-21).
After that, another Indian pair in Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the competition with a 21-23, 20-22 loss against Thai pair Prajongjai/Kititharakul. As one can see that the tie was closely contested, but the sixth seeded opponents were a tad bit better that the Indians.
Finally, it was the Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty match against home favourites Popov brothers. In the first game, the French pair made an incredible comeback to win it 21-19. However, the Indians literally smashed their way to win the second game 21-9.
In the deciding set, Satwik/Chirag saw the game through 21-13 as India tasted victory for the first time on Day 1 and in the French Open 2022.
To end the day, Saina Nehwal saw defeat at the hands of German Yvonne Li. The score read 13-21, 21-17, 21-19 in favour of Li. Hence, it was only the pair of Sat-Chi that kept the Indian challenge's hopes afloat on the first day of the French Open.
She loses the final game 19-21 to bow out of the French Open.
The scales have been balanced as the German wins the second game 21-17.
Nehwal has won the first game 21-13 against German Yvonne Li.
Landslide win in the second game as the Indian pair dole out a 21-9 loss to the French. Now to the deciding game!