Bangkok, May 18 (IANS) Former champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India stormed into the Thailand Open final once again, after comfortably defeating Ming Che Lu/Tang Kai Wei of Chinese Taipei in straight games in the men’s doubles here on Saturday. Satwik and Chirag won the men’s 21-11, 21-12 in the semifinal of Thailand Open 2024, reaching their fourth final of the year. The World No. 3 duo will face China’s Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi in the final on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who were playing their first-ever semifinal at the Super 500 event, went down 12-21, 22-20 against home-favourites Jongkolphan Kititharakul /Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand despite a valiant fight in a thrilling second game.
Earlier on Friday, the former world number one pair Satwik-Chirag outclassed the lower-ranked Malaysian duo of Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap 21-7, 21-14 in a third-round encounter that lasted for 38 minutes to reach the semifinals.
On Friday, Ponnappa and Crasto clinched a hard-fought 21-15, 21-23, 21-19 victory over the Korean pair of Shin Seung Chan and Lee Yu Lim to reach the women’s doubles semifinals.
–IANS
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