Malaysia Open 2024: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the men’s doubles team from India, defeated Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France on Thursday in straight games to advance to the quarterfinals. The Indian team defeated China’s He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu 21-11, 21-18 to advance to the quarterfinals.
With a stunning victory over the Chinese pair at the China Masters in November, Satwik-Chirag leads the head-to-head record 1-0. At the half of the first game, they had already taken an 11-2 lead thanks to their aggressive play.
After the interval, Corvee and Labar pulled within twelve points, thanks to a seven-point haul that gave them hope. But Satwik and Chirag won the next seven points in a row, and they quickly recovered their rhythm to win the opening game.
India took a 19-17 lead because to a deceit by Shetty and a flat exchange. He and Satwik wasted one before Labar gave the Indians the match by serving into the net.
The Japanese team of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara was taken by surprise by the Indian women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who won 21-19, 13-21, and 21-15 to extend their incredible run.
It would take an enormous effort on the part of Ashwini-Tanisha to climb into the top eight in the Race to Paris rankings, where they are now ranked 21st.
Men’s shuttler in singles In the Round of 16, Kidambi Srikanth was unable to control his mistakes and lost to Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 13-21 17-21. Angus looked excellent during the first 38 minutes of the game, but a string of careless mistakes and poor line calls placed him behind the curve.
Srikanth attempted to exert more initiative in the second game and was able to scrape together a narrow 11-10 lead at the half. However, Angus once more turned the tide to take a 14–12 lead after he was unable to recover in time to get to a shot during a rally.
While Srikanth tried to prolong the rallies, Angus maintained perfect form and left no gaps. The latter was ahead 17–12. After Angus made a string of careless mistakes, Srikanth quickly closed the score to 16–18. However, by that point, the latter was within inches from victory. Angus saved the day with a backhand flip, blocking a smash from Srikanth before sending one beyond the latter’s grasp at the backline. Srikanth relieved his pain by spraying into the net.