Commonwealth Games champion Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's impressive run ended with a semifinal finish after they went down in three games to China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. (More Badminton News)
The world number 5 Indian pair put up a brave effort, but Liang and Wang, ranked 17th, showed better nerves in the closing stages to register a 21-16 11-21 21-15 win in an hour and fo💛ur minutes match to reach their maiden Super 1000 finals.
For the seventh seeded Indians, it w𒅌as their third semifinal finish in a Super 1000 tournament.
The match expectedly was a close affair as the two pairs looked to outwit each other i🦂n the fast-paced rallies. Satwik and Chirag🍎 managed to eke out a 11-9 lead at the break after an initial duel.
However, the Chinese duo didn't allow the Indian pair to play their attacking gaಌme, using drives and blocks. Soon it was 14-14, before Liang and Wang moved ahead to ear♉n the bragging rights.
After the change of ends, the Indians gathered themsel⛦ves and turneꦗd it around as they broke off from 4-4. Satwik and Chirag won 7 of the last 8 points to grab a six-point advantage at the interval.
On resumption, the Indians were more alert and made better judgement and p🔴icked the right shots to quickly move to 14-5.
Eventually, a powerful smash from Satwik got them 12 game points and they sealed it on their four🌼th attempt to take the match to the decider after Liang went to the net.
The third game saw the two engage in some fabulous rallies with Chirag tak♋ing command of the front cဣourt initially.
Howev🐻er, Liang and Wang, the Japan Open champions, so♏on staged a recovery to lead 8-6.
Two booming smas♍hes from Chirag brought India back on level terms but it was the Chinese combination, who had a two-point cushion at the break after Wang produced a superb flick serve.
Wang and Liang extended the🐠 lead to 14-10 before Satwik unleashed a booming smash, but it was negated by a wide shot. The Chinese committed three service errors, but also produced a few quick points, with Liang producing a cross court return 🍸to make it 19-14.
A long shot from Chirag handed their rivals five match points. A flurry of smashes from Liang then sealed the final place for the Chinese❀ pair in their first ever super 1000 tourജnament.
World championships bronze medallists Satwi꧟k and Chirag will be in action at next week's India Open Super 750 tournament in New Delhi.
