China Masters: Satwik-Chirag Dominate Arif-Yap in Straight Games, Advance to Second Round

The gruelling badminton calendar was in the spotlight on Wednesday, September 17, when India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in the first round of the China Masters 750 tournament.

This was the Indian duo's second win over the Malaysian pair inside a week. They had beaten Arif/Yap in the quarter-final of the Hong Kong Open on September 12, Friday. That quarter-final ran for over an hour, with Sat-Chi holding their nerves to beat their opposition in a three-game battle.

The story was very different on Wednesday, as Satwik-Chirag put in a commanding performance to finish off their Round 1 match in just 42 minutes. Despite being pushed hard in the first game, Sat-Chi finished the job in straight games: 24-22, 21-13.

Satwik and Chirag were much more composed on the day despite faltering in defence. They tried to find the wide spaces in the mid-court while defending smashes but ended up giving away points. Where Sat-Chi were particularly exceptional was in the combination play, where Satwik set the point up with smashes from the back and Chirag finished the job.

Arif/Yap, known well for their play in the front court, showed some exceptional anticipation to take a late lead in the first game, but Sat-Chi held onto their nerves and finished the job 24-22.

The second game was relatively simpler. The runner-ups in the Hong Kong Masters stormed into an 11-6 lead early on and then won six straight points from 15-13 to finish off the game.

Lakshya Falters Against Popov

Hong Kong Open finalist Lakshya Sen faltered badly against Toma Junior Popov on Wednesday. Playing the opening game on Court 3, Lakshya lost 11-21, 10-21 in just 30 minutes. This was Lakshya's first opening-round exit after the BWF World Championships, where he had lost in straight games to Shi Yuqi.