India’s top-ranking doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made it to the second round of the China Masters 2023 after they beat the WR-22 English side of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-13, 21-10. The win would have come as a much-needed relief for Satwik-Chirag, who lost in the first round of the Japan Masters 2023, last week.
Right from the start, Satwik-Chirag looked men on a mission and wanted to complete the match in a hurry. At the first mid-game interval, the Indian duo raced to an 11-5 lead and were difficult to catch thereafter. In fact, the English pair was strangled at 17-9, and could not even think of a comeback at that stage.
BWF World Tour Finals Berth at Stake
The second game was even more clinical for Satwik-Chirag, who is chasing the qualification for the BWF World Tour Finals. Currently, the Indian pair is in 13th place and will have to play out of their skin to make it to the year-ender, involving a lot of permutations & combinations. Meanwhile, another Indian in the fray at the China Masters, Aakarshi Kashyap lost her first-round match to China’s Zhang YM 21-12, 21-14.
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