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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled off an emphatic triumph over World No.2 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik at the China Masters on Saturday, September 20. With this, the duo have advanced into the finals at the Super 750, where they will be in the hunt for their maiden title of 2025.
Rankireddy and Shetty have been on fire this past week. After their runners-up finish at the Hong Kong Open earlier this month, the Indians kicked off their campaign in Shenzhen with a straight games win over Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap. The former World No.1 pair then meted out a similar treatment to Hsiang Chieh Chiu and Wang Chi-Lin.
In their quarterfinals encounter, Rankireddy and Shetty were up against Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan. While the Chinese held the home ground advantage and had beaten Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen earlier this week, they proved to be no match for the Indians.
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On Saturday at the China Masters, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty took on their toughest opponents yet as they battled second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. The Indians have previously lost 11 of their 15 encounters against the Malaysian but they looked keen to not let history repeat itself.
Rankireddy and Shetty began the semifinals at a furious pace and constantly kept their longtime rivals under pressure, outfoxing the World No.2 pair to clinch a 21-17, 21-14 win in 40 minutes. For the Indians, this marks their second consecutive victory over Chia and Yik, having beaten them earlier this year at the World Championships.
2025 BWF China Masters Finals: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty likely to run into World No.1 pair
Up next, as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gear up for their second consecutive finals in as many weeks, they will take on the winner of the semifinals clash between Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri.
Kim and Seo are the reigning World No.1 pair, while Alfian and Fikri are the fresh partnership who beat World No.3 Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzudin and World No.5 Liang Wei-Kang/Wang Chang en route to the semifinals.
Rankireddy and Shetty have played Kim and Seo once before, and the Indians lost that encounter in straight sets. Meanwhile, they have never previously taken on Alfian and Fikri.
