Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semifinals of the China Masters BWF Super 750 tournament with a 21-16, 21-14 victory against Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia. However, HS Prannoy succumbed 9-21, 14-21 to Kodai Naraoka in Shenzhen on Friday.
The third-seeded Japanese shuttler dominated the eighth-seeded Prannoy and won in 43 minutes. Relying completely on rallies, Naraoka came up with some stunning diving saves near the net and displayed a lot of patience during a controversial umpiring decision at 9-8 in the second game.
The chief referee was called in to solve the issue. Naraoka, who lost a point there did not get rattled and in fact won the point after the longest rally of the match (59 shots).
From 12-12, he widened the gap as Prannoy hit at least four shuttles into the net and a few wide to help Naraoka win the game with a big margin.
Earlier, Satwik-Chirag faced stiff resistance in the first game from Leo-Daniel.
From 14-14, the Indians took a three-point lead. Chirag’s quick service return confused Daniel, who hit the shuttle high, enabling Satwik to score a smash winner. The Indians dominated the next two rallies to make it 17-14. Later a couple of unforced errors from the Indonesians helped the Indians to win the first game easily.
The top-seeded Indians dominated the second game. From 6-5, they won five of the next six points with the help of three smash winners and a couple of power-packed drives.
After the break, it was Indians all the way.
They retrieved well and controlled the game. Using the same tactics, they extended the lead to 17-10, leaving very little chance for the Indonesians to make a comeback.
In the semifinals, Satwik-Chirag will face He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu of China.
