China Masters: Rankireddy-Shetty storm into men's doubles semis, Lakshya Sen ousted in quarters

Shenzhen (China), Nov 22 The top Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semifinals of the China Masters 2024 with an upset victory over second-seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark here on Friday.

India however, continued to have a mixed day at this BWF World Tour Super 750 event as the campaign in men's singles came to an end with Lakshya Sen crashing out to third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games in the quarterfinals.

After Rankireddy and Shetty, seeded sixth in the event, defeated Astrup and Rasmussen 21-16 21-19 in a 47-minute quarterfinal clash, Sen took to the same court at the Shenzhen Gymnasium and went down to third seed Antonsen 18-21, 15-21 in 53 minutes on Court 2.

India's campaign in the women's singles had ended with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Anupama Upadhyay and Malvika Bansod losing in the second round. Aakarshi Kashyap had stumbled in the first round.

The hopes now rest on the former World No.1 pair of Rankireddy and Shetty as they stormed into the semifinal following their disappointing result in the Paris Olympics a few months back.

On Friday, Rankireddy and Shetty took an early lead in the first game and were soon up 5-2. They maintained their advantage as they stretched the gap to 14-8 soon and eventually won the game 21-16.

The second game was a tighter affair as the lead kept changing hands as the two pairs went beck-and-neck. The Indians took a decisive lead at 19-18 and went on to win two points in a row to win the game at 21-19 and seal victory.

In the semifinals, Rankireddy and Shetty will meet the winner of the quarterfinal clash between Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan and Jin Yong and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea.

In the men's singles quarterfinals, Lakshya Sen took an early lead before his Danish opponent fought back to back to level score at 6-6. Sen won a few points back-to-back to open a 9-6 lead and extended it to 12-8. But Antonsen fought back and caught up with him at 13-all and won five points in a row to take a 16-14 lead. But the Dane fought back to level scores at 17-17 and went on to win the game 21-18.

After the early skirmishes in the second game, Antonsen took a 6-3 lead and went on to extend it to 14-8. The third seed maintained his advantage and went on to win the game and match at 21-15 and secured a place in the semifinals.