Swiss Open 2023: Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty 1st title of season
The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty created history as they won the Super 300 Swiss Open title played at Basel, Switzerland on 26th March 2023.
It was an impressive performance by Chirag and Satwik
showing their attacking style of play putting the Chinese pairing of Ren
Xiangyu and Tan Qiang in two thrilling games. The match began with both pairs showing
their class with attacking moves and smashes before Satwik and Chirag took an 11-8
lead at the mid-game interval in the first game.
After the break, the match was even with both pairs dominating
on the smashes. The Chinese pair fought back to level the scores at 19-19. Satwik
and Chirag kept their calm to win the first set at 21-19.
The second game was again a closely fought affair as both
pairs kept hitting smashes. At the mid-game interval, Satwik and Chirag led
11-9. After the break, it was another close affair with both pairs fighting
for each point. The Indian pair struggled to have match points but held onto
their nerves to win the 2nd set 24-22 to win the Swiss Open title. This
was the first time that the Indian doubles pair won a title at the Swiss Open after 68
years.
Impressive performance by the Indian pair.
The Indian pairing of Satwik and Chirag began the tournament
with a straight-game win over Boon X Y and Wong T C of Malaysia by 21-15, 21-18.
They produced a brilliant performance in the 2nd
round defeating pre-qualifier Lee F C and Lee F J of Chinese Taipei in three
exciting games. Chirag and Satwik lost the first game by 12-21 before winning
the second game by 21-17. The third and decider saw both pairs fighting for
each point as Satwik and Chirag won it by 28-26 to move into the quarterfinals.
Satwik and Chirag defeated J Bay and L Molhede of Denmark in
three games. The Indian pair lost the first game by 15-21 before showing their class
winning it by 21-11, 21-14 to move into the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Satwik and Chirag defeated Ong Yew Sin
and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in three games. It was a very closely fought contest
as the Indian pair won the first game by 21-19 before losing the second by
17-21. The third and deciding game saw Satwik and Chirag show their class
winning it by 21-17 to move into the finals.
Swiss Open 2023 was a disappointing outing for Indian
shuttlers. HS Prannoy, M Manjunath, Kidambi Srikanth, and PV Sindhu lost in the
second round. Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost in the first round.
The Indian shuttlers would look to make amends with good
performances in the Spain Masters.
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