China Open: Satwik and Chirag go down to world No. 1 pair in semis

Fuzhou: The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's impressive run came to an end after they lost to three-time defending champions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the semifinal of $700,000 China Open here on Saturday.

The world No. 9 Indian pair lost 16-21, 20-22 to the top seeds and world No.1 combination Marcus and Kevin to bow out of the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament. This was the eighth successive loss for Satwik and Chirag against the Indonesian pair.

Satwik and Chirag, who had won their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August before reaching the finals at the French Open Super 750, played their heart out during the 40-minute final but it was not enough in the end.

The Indian duo opened up a 7-4 lead early on but they lacked the angles in their attack as their opponents managed to enter the break with an 11-9 lead after Satwik faltered with his return.

Kevin was simply brilliant at the net as the Indonesian duo quickly jumped to 14-9.

The Indonesian pair dominated the fast-paced rallies but Satwik and Chirag kept fighting to stay within an touching distance at 15-17.

An error from Satwik gave their opponents five game points. The Indians saved one before Chirag sent one to the net to concede the opening game.

In the second game, Satwik and Chirag again had a 3-1 advantage before Marcus and Kevin clawed their way back and went neck-and-neck till 6-6.

The Indian pair moved to 9-8 and then Satwik displayed some immaculate defence during a long rally to grab another point.

But the Indonesian pair again clawed their way back to be level at 10-10 and then held one-point advantage with Kevin once again in action.

After the break, Satwik and Chirag drew parity at 12-12 when their opponents went long.

The Indian duo managed to stay ahead at 16-14 and 18-16 before Marcus and Kevin grabbed back the lead with three quick points.

After some excruciating rallies, it was an error from Satwik that gave Marcus and Kevin the match point at 20-19.

The Indians saved one before handing another match point to the Indonesians, who sealed it this time to enter their fourth successive China Open final.

Despite the loss, it was an impressive week for Satwik and Chirag, who notched up some stunning wins, beating sixth-seeded Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe in the second round and outwitting third-seeded Chinese pairing of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen in the quarterfinals.