India’s star men’s doubles badminton team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the final of the Korea Open Super 500 event on Saturday.

They beat second seeds and world No 2 pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China 21-15, 24-22 in a semi-final match that lasted 40 minutes. The win put them in their third tour final this year.

They had won the Swiss Open Super 300 earlier this year, followed by their first ever Super 1000 crown in Indonesia last month. Now they have are in the final in the South Korea event for the first time.

Advertisement

Prior to their meeting on Saturday, the Indians had lost both their previous matches against the Chinese pair – the most recent in the Round of 16 at the All England Championship in March.

Indonesia Open: How Satwik-Chirag rekindled the fire to clinch their first Super 1000 title

Both teams started off evenly. At 7-7 in the opening game however, the Indians took a lead they would hold on to, racing to a 14-8 lead, before eventually closing it out at 21-15.

The second game started the same way as the first, with both teams matching each other, before the Indians once again took a lead to reach 12-8.

Advertisement

The Chinese duo however, regained their composure and kept chipping back eventually drawing level at 18-18.

Both teams started to falter on their serve, with the Indians twice committing faults – the serve was short. Three match points came and went before Rankireddy and Shetty finally got over the line.

In the final, they will take on Indonesia’s world No 1 team of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto. Alfian and Adrianto beat the home team of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 17-21, 21-16, 21-8 in a thrilling 74-minute semi-final clash.

Satwik and Chirag have met Alfian-Adrianto four times winning twice. Their last encounter was in the quarter-final of the Indonesian Open this year.