India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their fine form by defeating Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap to reach the second round of the China Masters 750 tournament. This marks the Indian pair’s second victory over the Malaysian duo in just five days, having previously triumphed in the Hong Kong Open quarter-finals on September 12.
Wednesday’s match saw Satwik-Chirag dominate, finishing in straight games 24-22, 21-13 in just 42 minutes. While the Indian duo occasionally struggled in defence, their combination play proved decisive, with Satwik setting up points from the backcourt and Chirag finishing at the net. Arif and Yap challenged them in the first game, but Sat-Chi held their nerves to close it 24-22, before comfortably winning the second game 21-13.
In other results, India’s Lakshya Sen suffered a first-round exit, losing 11-21, 10-21 to France’s Toma Junior Popov in just 30 minutes. This was Lakshya’s first opening-round loss since the BWF World Championships, where he had also been defeated in straight games by Shi Yuqi.
Conversation
Be kind and stay on topic. Comments are moderated; abuse, spam and personal attacks are removed. Report a problem