Basel: Indian doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Danish pair Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede in three hard-fought games to enter the semi-finals of the Swiss Open Super Series 300 badminton tournament here.
The pair sealed the match in 54 minutes on Friday night, winning 15-21, 21-11, 21-14. Now the pair will face the Malaysian team Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi late on Saturday night, PTI reported.
Now, Satwik and Chirag are the only Indian contenders left after double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and HS Prannoy did not last long.
The Indian pair had a really hard first game and easily lost it 15-21. Though they tried to gather themselves in the middle of the game, they weren't successful there.
The Indian pair picked up the tempo in the second game as they quickly got a seven-point cushion of 11-4 at the halfway break. They extended the lead to 10 points by the time parity was restored.
The third game started on an even keel, but the Indians were fantastic at the net as they first got an 11-7 lead and then maintained a seven-point advantage till the end of the match to enter the last four in style.
The pair had bowed out early from the All England Championships tournament. Therefore if they could make it to the title, it could be a great comeback for them.