Satwik, Chirag pair advances to second round of Indonesia Masters

The Asian Games champions, who reached back-to-back semifinals at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 in the last two weeks, outwitted Chen and Lin, ranked 38th in the world

Jakarta: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the second round of the $ 475,000 Indonesia Masters super 500 badminton with a clinical straight-game win against Chinese taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh here on Tuesday.

The Asian Games champions, who reached back-to-back semifinals at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 in the last two weeks, outwitted Chen and Lin, ranked 38th in the world, 21-16 21-15 in their opening match.

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World No. 19 combination of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa stamped their authority over Thai pair of Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-6 21-14 in the women’s doubles opening round.

Satwik and Chirag, the former world number ones, will face the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Raymond Inra and Patra Harapan Rindorindo and Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh. Ashwini and Tanisha, who won the Guwahati Masters super 100 title, last month will take on Malaysia’s Pei Kee Go and Mei Xing Teoh next.

In men’s singles, 2023 Odisha Masters runner-up Ayush Shetty brushed aside compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 21-7 21-15, while Tanya Hemanth eked out a hard-fought 16-21 21-17 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei’s Tung Ciou-Tong in the men’s and women’s qualifying rounds.

Ayush, a 2023 World junior championships bronze winner, will face top seed China’s Shi Yu Qi in the main draw, while Tanya will meet Thailand’s former world champion Ratchanok Intanon.

Satwik and Chirag didn’t have the desired start as the Taiwanese pair moved to a 8-4 lead early on but the Indians drew parity with four straight points. Thereafter, the two pairs were locked at 14-14 before Satwik and Chirag took a slender 17-16 lead.

The Indians then reeled off the required four points to seal the opening game. Having had the measure of their opponents, Satwik and Chirag played with more clarity and it showed as they jumped to 12-5 after the change of sides. The Taiwanese were then left to do the catching-up job as the Indian pair prevailed comfortably.