Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their second successive semi-final after humbling China’s Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting in straight games at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament here on Friday.
The world No. 2 India pair, who won the Asian Games gold medal last year, looked in control during the rallies and were also proactive at the net to eke out a dominating 21-11, 21-8 win over world No. 32 Yu and Ting in just 35 minutes.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, however, suffered a 15-21, 13-21 loss to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in the women’s doubles quarter finals.
The world No. 24 Indians, who created a flutter after stunning former world No. 1 and twice world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara on Thursday, couldn’t sustain the same performance against the combination of Iwanaga and Nakanishi, going down 15-21, 13-21 in a 39-minute match.
Satwik and Chirag, who had a sensational season in 2023 with six titles, produced a near-perfect game as they were lightning-fast in their exchanges. They inserted pace in the rallies and also mixed things well to make it a one-sided affair.
The Chinese pair looked clueless as Satwik and Chirag dished out a masterclass to completely dominate the match.