Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty storm into French Open final as Lakshya Sen bows out

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the final of the French Open Super 750 tournament in Paris after beating South Korea’s Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk in straight games.

Satwik and Chirag, ranked No 1 in the world in men’s doubles, have reached a third consecutive final as a result and have made it to the summit clash of the French Open for a third time following their 21-13, 21-16 victory over the Korean pair on Saturday.

However, the curtains came down on Lakshya Sen’s campain in Paris as he went down fighting against reigning world champion, Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, 20-22, 21-13, 21-11 in a contest that spanned an hour and 18 minutes in the men’s singles semi-finals.

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In a face-off between the two best pairs in the world, the Indian team of Rankireddy and Shetty dominated most of the match against the reigning world champions to get one back, after losing against the same pair in the India Open final earlier this year.

After winning the first game comfortably, Rankireddy and Shetty gained the upper hand in the second game as well.

Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae tried to put up a fight after the mid-game interval, but a substantial early lead helped the Indians pocket the match in 40 minutes.

The Indian duo will take on Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the final on Sunday, who defeated Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in their semi-final.

With PTI inputs