The Indian men's doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy caused a major upset by defeating the world No. 1 pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open 2023 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Friday.
HS Prannoy also advanced to the semi-finals in the men's singles category with an impressive victory in straight games over Japan’s Kodai Naraoka. However, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth lost to reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China.
Shetty and Rankireddy, ranked sixth in the world, comfortably won their match against the top-seeded Indonesian pair of Alfian and Ardianto, with a score of 21-13, 21-13.
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The Indian duo took control as they amassed six consecutive points, to gain a significant lead of 14-7 in the first game. They carried the momentum to win the game 21-13. The second game started on an even keel as both teams were going neck-and-neck at 7-7.
But Shetty and Rankireddy won four consecutive points to leave their Indonesian opponents trailing. They continued their relentless onslaught to secure victory in just 41 minutes and progress to the semi-final.
In the men's singles category, HS Prannoy, currently ranked ninth in the world, beat Japan's Kodai Naraoka, 21-18, 21-16 in under an hour to march ahead to the last four. This marked Prannoy's first victory over Naraoka in five encounters.
However, Srikanth's journey came to an end after he lost 21-14, 14-21, 21-12 to world No. 10 Shi Feng. After a disappointing first game, he made a comeback to win the second but ultimately fell short of gas in the decider to haplessly surrender to Shi Feng.