China Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty keep India's hopes alive as they storm into semis

Men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are keeping India's hopes at the China Open alive as they entered the semi-finals upsetting World No. 3 pair of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen.

Satwik and Chirag are the lone Indians left in the fray in the ongoing tournament.

The Indian duo defeated the former world champions 21-19, 21-15 in the quarter-final clash which lasted for 43 minutes at the Haixia Olympics Sports Center.

#TOPSAthlete men’s doubles duo @satwiksairaj-@shettychirag04 advanced to the semifinals of the #ChinaOpen Super 750 after beating World #3 from China Li Jun Hui-Liu Yu Chen 21-19, 21-15.
Many congratulations#KheloIndia@KirenRijiju @RijijuOffice @PIB_India @PMOIndia @BAI_Media pic.twitter.com/hkISjqpSAM

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) November 8, 2019

In what was a rematch of the Thailand Open final, the Indian duo took a 3-0 lead in the first game and conceded it only once at 17-16. 

In the second game, the Indians kept going one step further by staying ahead throughout the course of the game. 

The World No. 9 Indian pair will now face top-ranked Indonesian pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.

Satwik-Chirag had earlier defeated the Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe 21-18, 21-23, 21-11 in an intense second-round clash which lasted for 66 minutes. 

Prior to that, the Indian duo had triumphed the American pair of Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew 21-9 21-15.