Indonesia Open: Satwik/Chirag reach their first Super 1000 final

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty managed to overcome a game deficit and secure a hard-fought victory against Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo of Korea.

This triumph propelled them into the final of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event on Saturday.

Despite being the seventh seed, Rankireddy and Shetty had to battle for one hour and seven minutes to emerge victorious with a final score of 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 against the unseeded Korean pair.

This victory not only secured their spot in the final but also further solidified their superior head-to-head record against Kang and Seo, which now stands at 3-2 in favor of the Indian duo.

Satwik and Chirag ranked sixth in the world, will face the winner of the other semifinal between Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan and second seeds Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of Malaysia in their maiden World Tour Super 1000 final.

The match started on an even kneel before the Korean pair surged ahead to 6-3.

Once they conceded the lead, Satwik and Chirag were forced to play catch-up badminton for the rest of the first game.

The Indians used their aggressive play to reduce the margin to 15-19 and then 17-20 before Kang and Seo kept their composure to pocket the first game, courtesy of an unforced error.

Trailing, the reigning Commonwealth Games champions, looked more purposeful after the change of ends and took an early 6-3 lead before racing to 11-4 with a flurry of fast-paced shots and body smashes in the second game.

Satwik and Chirag were also helped by some bad line calls and unforced errors from the Koreans. But Kang and Seo didn't give up and clawed their way back into the game to reduce the gap to 18-15.

But the Indians managed to hold on to their nerves and played sensibly to pocket the second game and level the scores.

The decider went neck and neck till the first five points before Satwik and Chirag pocketed seven straight points to race to a 12-5 lead.

The Koreans tried hard to bounce back and at one time leveled the scores at 16-16 but that is when Satwik and Chirag put their foot on the accelerator and relied on their aggressive play to keep their nose ahead and finally closed out the game and the match.

In the other semi-finals, Indian shuttler HS Prannoy lost 15-21, 15-21 to the World Champion Viktor Axelsen. Coming back from an injury layoff, Viktor Axelsen was at his fluent best and the Indian shuttler had no answer to it.

(With PTI Inputs)