Day 2 at the French Open 2025 turned out to be disappointing for India’s shuttlers and fans. Defending champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced an early exit, losing in straight games. India’s rising singles stars, Ayush Shetty and Anmol Kharb, also went down in the opening round while Unnati Hooda put up a strong performance to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
Satwik and Chirag, India’s top men’s doubles pair and ranked No. 3 in the world, lost to Indonesia’s Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Rahmat Hidayat in straight games, losing 18-21, 20-22 in a closely contested Round-of-32 match. This marked a rare first-round defeat for Satwik-Chirag and the first such instance in 2025.
Satwik and Chirag stepped onto the court with fond memories as they had won the previous edition in 2024, and were one of the favourites to retain the title in 2025. Facing the same Indonesian pair they had defeated just last week in the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open, they struggled to maintain the same composure and fell short.
The first game began with Indians taking an early 3-0 lead. But moments later, they made multiple unforced errors that saw them concede 5 consecutive points. Still, at the mid-game interval, they led 11-9. After the break, both pairs exchanged points but at 18-18, Satwik-Chirag made errors and mistakes in placement which saw the Indonesians take the opening game 21-18.
The second game was closely fought with both sides displaying high-intensity gameplay. However, the Indians faltered in key exchanges and made errors of judgment at crucial junctures to lose the game 20-22.
In the women’s singles, Unnati stormed to the pre-quarterfinals. The 18-year-old from Haryana defeated Malaysia’s Karupathevan Letshana (11-21, 21-13, 21-16) in the opening round. Anmol went down against South Korea’s World No. 1 An Se Young – 15-21, 9-21 – while Anupama Upadhyay lost to China’s World No. 4 Han Yue – 15-21, 11-21.
In men’s singles, Ayush Shetty lost to Japan’s Koki Watanabe in straight games – 19-21, 19-21.
In an all-Indian women’s doubles clash, Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Sanghi defeated Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda – 21-9, 21-11.
In another men’s doubles match, Pruthvi K Roy and Sai Pratheek went down in straight games to Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, losing 18-21, 13-21.
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