Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their first men’s doubles title of the year at the Swiss Open Super 300 in Basel on Sunday.
The second seed, Satwik-Chirag, defeated China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang in straight games (21-19, 24-22) in 54 minutes to clinch the BWF World Tour title.
Sunday’s win was a confidence booster for Satwik-Chirag since the duo went down in the second round at the All England Open Championships last week.
This was the first final of the year for the world no. 6 Indian combo. They played the Malaysia Open semifinal in January.
In the first game, Satwik-Chirag raced to take an 11-8 lead at the mid-game interval. The Chinese duo tried to retaliate, but they never could match the Indians’ skill and intensity. At 17-12, Satwik has had an imposing presence at the net, while Chirag hit viciously from the edge of the court.
Xiang Yu tried to upset the combination, but Satwik pushed her to the back and started feeding her with high tosses, taking Tan Qiang out of the equation. As Xian Yu’s frustration began to mount, she started making errors and that allowed the Indians to take the first game at 21-19.
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The Chinese pair started the second game confidently and matched the Indians at 8-8. But, both Satwik and Chirag were superb in defence as they stonewalled the thunderbolts coming from the other side of the court.
The momentum of the match swung either way, with Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang coming back to level the set 11-11 at the mid-game interval and saving three match points, but Satwik-Chirag suddenly came up with something extra. Being an experienced pair and multiple Super Series winners, they found a way out to beat Xian Yu and Tan Qiang, the unseeded combination. They took the next two points to seal the contest at 24-22.
Overall, it was their fourth title on the BWF World Tour. They won the India Open and French Open last year, besides securing the Thailand Open in 2019.
