China Open 2025: Satwik and Chirag Storm into Semis, Unnati’s Campaign Over

Satwik-Chirag at the China Open 2025 ( Image : Badminton Photo)

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their impressive run at the BWF Super 1000 China Open, storming into the semi-finals with a commanding victory over the Malaysian pair of Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo. The Indians prevailed 21-18, 21-14.

Satwik and Chirag became the first Indian men’s doubles pair ever to reach the semi-finals of the China Open. This also marks their fourth last-four appearance of the year, following the India Open, Singapore Open and Malaysia Open.

The quarter-final clash saw Satwik and Chirag in scintillating form from the start. They established an early lead with their aggressive play. At the interval, Sat-Chi led 11-9. The Malaysians put up brief resistance, but their rivals held their nerve to close out the game.

The second game saw Satwik and Chirag starting strong once again. At the interval, they held a narrow 11-10 lead. Post-interval, the Malaysians continued to fight, closing the gap to 15-14. However, Satwik and Chirag went on a stunning run there on, winning six consecutive points to seal the match.

Speaking after the match to BWF media, Chirag said: “We’ve never gone beyond the first round here in Changzhou, so this is already our best result. But we’re not done yet. We feel we have more to give and we’re aiming to go further. Happy with the way we played today, and looking forward to tomorrow.”

This was the 10th meeting between Ong/Teo and Satwik-Chirag, and once again, the Indian pair dominated the contest. With this win, Satwik and Chirag extended their head-to-head to 7-3.

Explaining their strategy against the Malaysian pair, Satwik said: “We’ve played them before, including in Malaysia this year. The court was fast from our side in the first game, so we knew we had to play aggressively and get on the attack early. In the second game, we focused on controlling the net and staying sharp with our rackets. They’re creative on the net. We didn’t want to give them room.”

The Indians face a tougher challenge in the semi-final against another Malaysian pair —Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. They have handed Indian fans more than a few heartbreaks in the past. “It’s always a battle against them. We’re looking forward to it and we’ll be ready,” said Chirag.

Unnati Hooda’s spirited run ends

The 17-year-old Unnati Hooda’s impressive journey came to an end in the quarter-finals. The young Indian went down 16-21, 12-21 to world No. 4 Akane Yamaguchi.

Unnati started strong and even led 6-5 in the first game. But Yamaguchi found her rhythm and pulled ahead with five straight points. The second game followed a similar pattern where the score was level until 8-8 before the Japanese stepped up and closed the match in 33 minutes.

Unnati Hooda at the China Open 2025 ( Screengrab : BWF TV)

Even though Unnati lost in the quarter-finals, her performance was a positive. She showed improvement and made headlines. In the first round, she defeated Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour and pulled off a big upset by beating PV Sindhu in the pre-quarters.

Follow Revsportz  for more sports updates.