Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have ended a two-year title drought with a stunning win in the BWF Singapore Open Super 750... their third Super 750 win coming with a tough, hard-fought win over Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammed Fikri. The Indians won 18-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a marathon that lasted 1 hour and 13 minutes.
Sat-Chi started the match slowly, Alfian-Fikri keeping it fast and flat at the net and not allowing Satwik to get into his expansive back court game. Chirag's agility at the net, though, brought the Indians back into it in the second game and with a touch of luck (three times Chirag's pushes kissed the tape of the net and fellow on the Indonesians' side), they worked their way into a healthy lead which they never let go. The current world no. 4 (rankings will change now post-tournament) showed that they were slowly but surely working their way back to the kind of form and performance that had them ranked top of the world just a few years back.
In the third game, big Satwik came into his own. After initially racing to a 11-6 lead, Alfian's sensational reflex smashes got the Indonesian world no.3 pair back into it... but that's when Satwik stepped up. Chirag forced lifts from the other end that all met their grisly ends at the hands of Satwik whose smashing game was sensational towards the end. By the time the Indonesians recovered, the Indian pair had run away with it all.
You can relive all the action right here --
