China Masters 2025: Satwik-Chirag stun second seeds, storm into 2nd final of season

Shenzhen (China), Sep 20 (IANS) The top Indian men's doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, stormed into their second final of the season with a commanding performance at the China Masters 2025 here on Saturday.

The Indian pair, seeded eighth in this BWF World Series event, outclassed second-seeded Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, clinching a dominant straight-games victory 21-17, 21-14 in 41 minutes at the Shenzhen Arena here.

In the final, the Indian pair will take on the winner of the second semifinal clash between the top-seeded Korean pair, Won Ho Kim and Seung Jae Seo and the Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.

In the semifinal clash on Saturday, Rankireddy and Shetty took an early lead as the two sides went neck and neck with lead changing hands regularly till 13-13, from where the Indian pair slowly built a 19-14 lead and eventually won the first game 21-17.

Rankireddy and Shetty, who are currently ranked fourth in the BWF Rankings, had things a bit easier in the second game as they surged to an 8-2 lead. The Malaysian pair reduced the margin to 8-6. Rankireddy and Shetty won four points in a row to move to 10-6, but their opponents again fought back to 11-9. The Indians maintained their upper hand and went on to win the game 21-14 and secured their place in the final.

Rankireddy and Shetty, who had finished runners-up in the Hong Kong Open 2025 last week, outclassed China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan 21-14, 21-14 in 38 minutes in their quarterfinal clash.

The Indian former World No. 1 pair was the only Indian interest in the top-level competition after top woman singles star P.V. Sindhu was ousted from the USD 1,250,000 prize money tournament, losing to top seed An Se Young of Korea in straight games in their quarterfinal stage on Friday. Sindhu went down to the Korean shuttler 14-21, 13-21 in 38 minutes on a clash on Court 2 at the gymnasium at Shangbu North Road.

--IANS

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