Rankireddy and Shetty Win Men’s Doubles at Indonesia Open
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history by becoming the first Indian pair to win a Super 1000 event with a triumphant victory over reigning world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the final of the Indonesia Open.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist had lost their last eight matches against the Malaysian duo but stormed to a 21-17 21-18 victory in Jakarta.
Rankireddy and Shetty won in 42 minutes just a day after battling back from a game down to beat South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae 17-21 21-19 21-18 in a thrilling semi-final.
They also recorded convincing victories over Toma Popov and Christo Popov in the Round of 32, Zhou Haodong and He Jiting in the Round of 16, and Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals.
World number one and two-time All England champion Viktor Axelsen stormed to victory without losing a game in the men’s singles, beating Indonesia’s own Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-14 21-13 in the final.
The reigning Olympic Champion was returning from a month-long layoff with a muscle strain to his hamstring sustained during the Sudirman Cup, and he was sensational on his way to victory.
The Dane was equally impressive in a semi-final that saw him dispatch India’s H. S. Prannoy 21-15 21-15 and in a quarter-final triumph over Chou Tien-Chen.
Axelsen reached the quarters with wins over Weng Hongyang in the Round of 32 and Wang Tzu-Wei in the Round of 16.
Chen Yufei came out on top in a battle between two Olympic gold medallists in the final of the women’s singles.
The reigning Olympic champion defeated 2016 gold medallist Carolina Marín of Spain 21-18 21-19 to lift the title.
She was also superb in a 21-8 21-17 victory over An Se-young in the semi-finals and in her quarter-final dispatching of South Korea’s Kim Ga-Eun.
She got her week underway with a win over Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira in the Round of 32 before beating Saena Kawakami in the Round of 16.
In the final of the women’s doubles, fifth seeds Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee defeated Japan’s Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka 22-20 21-10.
They reached the final by defeating their compatriots Kim Hye-jeong and Jeong Na-eun 21-13 21-10.
The South Korena were ruthless as they defeated China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 21-18 21-12 in the quarters.
However, they had to hold their nerve after losing the second game of their Round of 16 clash with Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, holding on to win 21-15 17-21 21-10.
Reigning All England champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong won the mixed doubles by beating Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino 21-14 21-11.
They defeated their compatriots Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping 21-19 21-10 to reach the finals, having also dispatched Danish duo Mathias Thyrri and Amalie Magelund in the quarter-finals.
