Satwik-Chirag duo sails into French Open final

Paris: India’s world number one pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the men’s doubles final of the French Open Super 750 tournament after beating South Korea’s Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk in straight games here. This is the duo’s third consecutive final of the year and the third time in this tournament. They won 21-13, 21-16 in the men’s doubles semifinal on Saturday.

However, Lakshya Sen’s campaign in the tournament ended after he lost to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. Kunlavut won 20-22, 21-13, 21-11 in an hour and 18 minutes in his men’s singles semi-finals.

In a face-off between the two best pairs in the world, the Indian team of Rankireddy and Shetty dominated most of the match against the reigning world champions to get one back, after losing against the same pair in the India Open final earlier this year.

After winning the first game comfortably, Rankireddy and Shetty gained the upper hand in the second game as well.

Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae tried to put up a fight after the mid-game interval, but a substantial early lead helped the Indians pocket the match in 40 minutes.

The Indian duo will take on Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the final on Sunday, who defeated Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in their semifinal.