Macau: Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the men’s doubles second round of the Macau Open Super 300 with a straight-game win over Malaysia’s Low Hang Yee and Ng Eng Cheong, here on Tuesday.
The Asian Games champions, who also regained their place in the top 10 of the BWF world rankings on Tuesday, produced a clinical performance to outclass the Malaysian pair 21-13, 21-15 in just 36 minutes.
The women’s pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra also moved to the second round after battling past Chinese Taipei’s Zih Ling Huang and Wang Szu-Min 21-15, 16-21, 21-17 in a hard-fought three-game encounter.
In women’s singles, Anmol Kharb and Tasnim Mir advanced to the main draw after winning their respective qualification matches.
Anmol defeated Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Azzahra 21-11, 21-13, while Tasnim overcame Thailand’s Tidapron Kleebyeesun 21-14, 13-21, 21-17.
Tasnim will face top seed Chen Yu Fei of China in the opening round of the main draw, while Anmol is set to take on second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.
The top seeded women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a first-round exit after going down fighting 21-16, 20-22, 15-21 in an hour against Lin Xiao Min and Peng Yu Wei of Chinese Taipei.
Apoorva Gahlawat and Sakshi Gahlawat fell to Malaysia’s Go Pei Kee and Teoh Mei Xing in the women’s doubles Round of 32, while men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi also exited in the opening round.
In men’s doubles, Dingku Singh Konthoujam and Amaan Mohammad progressed to the main draw after beating Hong Kong’s Law Cheuk Him and Yeung Shing Choi 21-18, 21-17. They will face compatriots Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K in the next round.
The mixed doubles pair of Thandrangini Hema Nagendra Babu and Priya Konjengbam also made it to the main draw, where they will take on Thailand’s Phuwanat Horbanluekit and Fungfa Korpthammakit.
Earlier, Satwik and Chirag made a dominant start, racing to a 6-1 lead. Though the Malaysians reduced the margin to 10-9, the Indians quickly regained control and took the opening game 21-13.
In the second game, the Malaysians kept the pressure on till 13-14, but the former world No. 1 Indian duo surged ahead to 17-13 and sealed the match by winning four consecutive points.
Meanwhile, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam failed to qualify for the main draw, going down 15-21, 21-17, 13-21 to China’s Zhu Xuan Chen in the second round of qualification.
