Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa made an emphatic start to their campaign at the China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament by defeating World No 7 Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavienti in the first round of the mixed doubles event in Changhou on Tuesday.
The Indian duo defeated the sixth-seeded pair 22-20, 17-21, 21-17 in a thrilling opening round clash that lasted for more than 50 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.
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The Indian pair was trailing 12-18 in the first game and looked on course for an exit from the competition. However, they made a remarkable comeback to win the opening game 22-20.
The Indonesian duo came back strongly in the second game as they showed their masterclass and took the match in the final game where they eventually lost and bowed out of the tournament.
Rankireddy will later in the day play his men’s doubles match alongside Chirag Shetty against Canada’s Nyl Yakura and Jason Anthony Ho-Shue.
