In a battle between the top two men’s doubles badminton pairs in the world, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty overpowered Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk-Seo Seung Jae in the French Open semi-finals in Paris .
Rankireddy and Shetty, No. 1 in the BWF rankings, got the better of the reigning world champions by a 21-13, 21-16 scoreline to make their third final of the 2024 badminton season.
The Indians reached the final of their season-opening Malaysia Open but lost to the then-world No. 1 Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
At the India Open final, Chirag-Satwik lost to Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae.
Rankireddy and Shetty, the 2022 French Open champions, faced a stiff challenge at the start of the opening game with the scores level at 5-5.
The Indian pair won six straight points to go into the interval leading 11-5 and never looked back.
After winning the first game convincingly, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gained the upper hand in the second game as well. Though Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae showed some resistance after the mid-game interval, a handy early lead helped the Indians pocket the match in 40 minutes.
In the men’s singles semi-finals, Lakshya Sen, ranked 19th, lost 21-19, 13-21, 11-21 against world No. 8 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in 75 minutes.
Sen, the Commonwealth Games champion, dominated the opening stages of the match to give himself a three-point cushion at 6-3. However, world champion Vitidsarn engaged Sen in longer rallies to claw his way back into the first game.
The Thai shuttler levelled the scores at 15-15 and was on the verge of clinching the first game.
With quick reflexes and powerful smashes, Sen mounted a comeback by winning a 48-shot rally to make it 19-all and for the first time at this French Open, won the opening game.
The second game turned out to be a one-sided affair with the reigning world champion targeting Sen’s forehand with a clever mix of attack and defence.
The decider also ended up being a one-way traffic with Lakshya Sen losing steam and Vitidsarn making the most of the open spaces.
Though Sen crashed out, he scored some big wins in the earlier rounds by defeating the 2021 French Open champion Kanta Tsuneyama, third seed Li Shi Feng and former world champion Loh Kean Yew.
A semi-final appearance at the French Open, a BWF Super 750 event, will also fetch Sen crucial ranking points for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The qualification window for badminton for the Paris Olympics opened in May last year and will close on April 28.