The seventh-seeded duo of Rankireddy and Shetty displayed a flawless game to outwit Indonesia’s Alfian and Ardianto 21-13 21-13 in 41 minutes.
Jakarta: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shocked top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto to sail into the men’s doubles semifinals of the Indonesia Open here on Friday, June 16, a PTI report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
In the men’s singles competition, HS Prannoy beat Kodai Naraoka to enter the last-four stage .
The seventh-seeded duo of Rankireddy and Shetty displayed a flawless game to outwit Indonesia’s Alfian and Ardianto 21-13 21-13 in 41 minutes.
HS Prannoy entered semis with a 21-18 21-6 win over Kodai Naraoka.
Seventh seed Prannoy prevailed over the third-seeded Naraoka 21-18 21-6 to book his semifinals berth. Prannoy will now take on top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who mauled Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou 21-5 21-19.
However, Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after going down fighting to China’s Li Shi Feng in the quarterfinals.
The first Indian to take the court, Srikanth lost 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to the world No. 10. The win enabled Feng to restore parity in the head-to-head record against Srikanth, which stands at 1-1 now.
Srikanth runs out of steam
In the first game, it was the Chinese who came out on top despite a sluggish start.
World No. 22 Srikanth opened up an early 2-0 lead before Feng bounced back with five straight points, with the Indian guilty of committing too many unforced errors.
The initial lead was all Srikanth could manage as Feng upped his game to take an 11-7 lead at the break.
Feng’s court coverage and anticipation was far better than Srikanth’s, who made a number of mistakes near the net.
The first Indian to take the court, Srikanth lost 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to the world No. 10. The win enabled Feng to restore parity in the head-to-head record against Srikanth, which stands at 1-1 now.
Barring a few glimpses of his old self, Srikanth looked completely off-colour as Feng continued to increase his lead, executing drop shots with precision and body smashes to easily pocket the first game.
After a close contest initially in the second game, it was Srikanth who bounced back in style with perfect smashes and wore out the Chinese by playing from front to back of the court to take an 11-6 lead.
Srikanth relied on his aggressive play near the net to take points and eventually closed out the second game in his favour to level the scores.
However, the Indian failed to continue in the same vein in the decider as Feng raced to a five-point lead at the mid-game interval, when the Chinese received medical attention on his heavily strapped left foot.
The injury hardly affected his game as Srikanth failed to close the gap in the third game.
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