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Despite being the seventh seeds, Rankireddy and Shetty had to battle for one hour and seven minutes to emerge victorious with a final score of 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 against the unseeded Korean pair.
This victory not only secured their spot in the final but also further solidified their superior head-to-head record against Kang and Seo, which now stands at 3-2 in favor of the Indian duo.
“We feel really good the way we played today. They made a comeback in the third game but we stuck till the end and I am happy that we didn’t run away from our tactics. We stuck to it till the very end. First time we are in a Super 1000 final and so it feels good,” Chirag said after the win.
“They (Koreans) too have a really strong defence, so it was sort of a attack vs defence game. You just can’t blindly attack them. We were mixing it up.”
Asked about Sunday’s final: Satwik responded: “It’s a new day, get back and recover our body first. I was not feeling 100 per cent in the first game. Slowly I got my rhythm in the second game.”
HS Prannoy’s journey in the men’s singles semifinals came to an end as he was unable to deliver a standout performance against top seed Viktor Axelsen from Denmark.
Prannoy lost the match with a score of 15-21, 15-21, as Axelsen proved to be a formidable opponent. Despite Prannoy’s efforts, he was unable to overcome the dominance of the Danish player and was eliminated from the tournament.
Prannoy played the catch up game from the onset. He showed sparks in between riding on his cross court smashes but Axelsen’s drop shots and court coverage was good enough to help him take the lead.
The script unfolded in the same manner in the next game as Axelsen continued to maintain his upperhand and pocket the game and match in identical manner.
It was Prannoy’s sixth loss against the Dane in the international circuit as against two wins.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked sixth in the world, will face the winner of the other semifinal between Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan and second seeds Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of Malaysia in their maiden World Tour Super 1000 final.
The match started on an even kneel before the Korean pair surged ahead to 6-3.
Once they conceded the lead, Satwik and Chirag were forced to play catch-up badminton in the rest of the first game.
The Indians used their aggressive play to reduce the margin to 15-19 and then 17-20 before Kang and Seo kept their composure to pocket the first game, courtesy an unforced error.
Trailing, the reigning Commonwealth Games champions, looked more purposeful after the change of ends and took an early 6-3 lead before racing to 11-4 with a flurry of fast paced shots and body smashes in the second game.
Satwik and Chirag were also helped by some bad line calls and unforced errors from the Koreans.
But Kang and Seo didn’t give up and clawed their way back in the game to reduce the gap to 18-15.
But the Indians managed to held on to their nerves and played sensibly to pocket the second game and level the scores.
The decider went neck and neck till the first five points before Satwik and Chirag pocketed seven straight points to race to 12-5 lead.
The Koreans tried hard to bounce back and at one time levelled the scores at 16-16 but that is when Satwik and Chirag put their foot on the accelerator and relied on their aggressive play to keep their nose ahead and finally closed out the game and the match.
The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300 in order. One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.
Each of these tournaments offers different ranking points and prize money. The highest points and prize pool is offered at the Super 1000 level.
(With PTI Inputs)
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