The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s impressive run came to an end after they lost to three-time defending champions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the semifinal of $700,000 China Open on Saturday.
The world number 9 Indian pair lost 16-21, 20-22 to the top seeds and world number one Marcus and Kevin to bow out of the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament. This was the eighth successive loss for Satwik and Chirag against the Indonesian pair. The duo played their hearts out during the 40-minute final but it was not enough in the end.
This was Satwik and Chirag’s third loss this year against the world number 1 pair.
Despite the loss, it was an impressive week for Satwik and Chirag, who notched up some stunning wins, beating sixth seeded Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe in the second round and outwitting third seeded Chinese pairing of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen in the quarterfinals.