Satwik-Chirag romp into French Open badminton final

Commonwealth Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the men's doubles final at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament with a straight-games victory over the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho, in Paris, on Saturday.

The world number 8 Indian pair dished out an attacking game and controlled the net well to outwit the 18th-ranked Korean combination 21-18, 21-14 in the semi-final that lasted 45 minutes.

The seventh seeded Indians thus reached their second final of a BWF World tour event in 2022, having won the India Open Super 500 tournament in January this year.

Satwik and Chirag, who won a bronze medal at the World Championships in August, will play Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han, who got the better of England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-14 in the other semi-final.

Up against opponents they never played before, Chirag was relentless at the front court, while Satwik unleashed his booming smashes from the rear as the Indians put up a clinical show at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

Satwik and Chirag, the 2019 edition's runner-up pair, never looked in trouble as they kept things in their grip right from the start. They came up with an all-out attack and were up 2-0 early on and despite the Koreans managing to claw back at 7-7, they ensured they were four points ahead at the mid-game interval.

After the break, the Koreans briefly tried to dictate the pace of the rallies with their returns getting steeper. Soon they were 16-13 up, but an alert Chirag produced a precise return to keep moving ahead.

With the Indians hitting the net and out of the court on a number of occasions, the Koreans brought the equation down to 18-19 but Choi then committed an unforced error to hand two game points to their opponents. Chirag then sealed the opening game with a precise smash.

The Indian combination continued with their aggressive game plan in the second game which saw some good rallies early on. After 3-3, Satwik-Chirag moved to a 7-4 lead.

The Koreans, however, rallied their way back to 9-10 after a slew of exchanges but Chirag unleashed a smash to give themselves a two-point cushion at the interval.

Chirag took control of the front court as he was more alert and produced some good shots even as the Korean pair found the going tough, trailing 10-15.

Two net errors from the Koreans took the Indian pair to 18-12. A deceptive return-to-serve gave the Koreans one more point but Chirag responded with a body return.

Choi then hit wide to hand six match-points to the Indians before Chirag sealed the contest with a smash and raised his arms in triumph even as his partner Satwik broke into a dance.