Singapore, May 30 (IANS) Indian men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated the world no. 1 Malaysian pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin to enter the semifinals of the Singapore Open on Friday here at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Indian duo registered a straight-games win, 21-17, 21-15, over the Malaysians in a match that lasted 39 minutes. This is their third semifinal of the season. They have stumbled in the last two semifinals on the BWF Tour this season, first at the Malaysia Open and then at the India Open. Interestingly, it was the Malaysian pair of Goh and Izzuddin who ousted Satwik and Chirag at the India Open.

Satwik and Chirag will be aiming to make their maiden final of the season when they face another Malaysian pair in either eighth seed Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee or third seed Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.

The men’s doubles duo is the only Indian representation left in the tournament after the likes of PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, and others bowed out.

In the women’s singles, double Olympic medalist Sindhu bowed out in the second round after losing to China’s Chen Yu Fei 9-21, 21-18, 16-21. HS Prannoy suffered a straight-game loss against Frenchman Christo Popov, facing a 16-21, 14-21 defeat in a match that lasted 42 minutes.

The mixed doubles duo of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde also suffered a round of 16 loss, going down to the second-seeded pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong 10-21, 16-21.

Eighth sees Treesa-Gayatri’s run ended in the quarterfinals after losing to the unseeded Chinese duo of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian.

Earlier in the women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap and Unnati Hooda failed to cross the first hurdle. Aakarshi lost to world No. 4 Han Yue won 21-17, 13-21, 7-21 in a 58-minute battle, while Unnati went down 21-13, 9-21, 15-21 to world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi.

Anupama Upadhyaya also crashed out after losing 12-21, 16-21 to Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei while the women’s doubles pair of Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Alisha Khan were overwhelmed 8-21, 9-21 by Australia’s Gronya Somerville and Angela Yu.

In the men’s singles, India’s top-ranked men’s shuttler Lakshya Sen was forced to retire midway through his opening round match. Sen started strong against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi, taking the first game 21-15. But Lin came back to take the second 21-17. In the deciding game, Sen began to struggle with lower back pain and retired while trailing 5-13.

–IANS

bc/