The young Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continue to impress as they stormed into the final of the $20,000 Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge in Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday. The teenage duo seeded sixth, put up a stunning show of resilience to upset the second-seeded Indonesians Markis Kido and Hendra Aprida Gunawan, 16-21, 21-11 21-18 in the semi-finals. The match lasted 51 minutes.
Considering Kido had been a former World No. 1 in men's doubles and Gunawan had been as high as No. 5 in the same discipline, this was indeed a massive win for Shetty and Rankireddy.
The Indians will meet the fifth seeds Trawut Potieng and Nathakam Yordphaisong of Thailand in the title showdown on Sunday.
The 16-year-old Rankireddy and the 19-year-old Shetty had found success immediately after joining forces. In their breakthrough season last year, they scooped up four titles that pushed them within the top 70 of the world rankings.
Currently ranked 59th, they are looking to win their first title of the 2017 season.
Mixed fortunes for Indians at Polish Open
Meanwhile at the ongoing $20,000 Polish Open, Subhankar Dey bowed out in the quarter-finals after a great start against the fourth seed and World No. 62 Ygor Coelho of Brazil. The World No. 79 took the first game but could not ward off Coelho from pocketing a hard-fought second game, 21-19.
In the decider, the fourth seed was in control and never allowed the Indian to settle into it. Coelho wrapped up the win in 58 minutes.
Dey has been in great form this year and has already won two titles at the Iceland International and Portuguese International.
In contrast, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil had a much better outing and made it to the semi-finals. The third seeds eked out a hard-fought opening game against the Chinese Taipei combine of Hao Yun Wen and Jing Ya Ye and then ran away with the second game to register a 22-20, 21-9 win in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, they had begun their campaign with a gritty 14-21, 21-12, 21-18 win over the Scottish team of Julie Macpherson and Eleanor O’Donnell.
They will next take on the Taipei duo of Hsin Tien Chang and Chien Hui Yu for a place in the summit clash.
