Abhishek Mishra
The Indian men’s doubles pair entered the Shenzhen Arena at the China Masters 2025 without having dropped a single game in the event yet, but Saturday brought their toughest challenge. It was the semi-final.
In a dominant effort, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crushed their nemesis Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in a clinical display. It was 21-17, 21-14. This marked the Indian duo’s second consecutive final entry and their first final in an S750 event this year.
The initial phase of the opening game saw both pairs exchanging points, with the Malaysians holding an 11-10 lead at the interval. At 14-13, a fabulous rally unfolded where Satwik-Chirag showed brilliant net drops and sharp flat exchanges to edge ahead 15-13. From that moment, they accelerated, reeling off four consecutive points to move ahead 19-15. Satwik sealed the game with a crosscourt flat push.
In the second game, Satwik and Chirag dominated right from the start. At 7-2, Chirag’s strings were slightly damaged and Satwik took charge with a flurry of smashes from the backcourt to extend the lead to 8-2. Chia and Soh showed fight, but the Indians went into the interval with an 11-6 lead. The game continued in the same fashion, and the Indians sealed it comfortably with a sharp smash from Chirag.
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