Satwik-Chirag stunned the Korean world number one, entering the Singapore Open final

India’s Chirag Shetty, left, and Satwiksiraj Rankireddy Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the men’s doubles final at the Singapore Open Super 750 after defeating top seeds and world number one Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea in straight games on Saturday.The fourth-seeded Indian duo defeated the reigning world champions 21-19, 21-18 in a semi-final that lasted 52 minutes.Satwik and Chirag will now take on the winner of the second semi-final between Indonesia’s third-seeded pair of Fajar Alfian, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and China’s fifth-seeded duo of Liang Wei Kang, Chang Wang in Sunday’s final.However, there was disappointment for Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto in the mixed doubles. The Indian pair lost 16-21, 21-17, 13-21 to Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara in the semi-finals.The men’s doubles was even from the start. The Korean pair led 13-11 midway through the opening match but Satwik and Chirag stayed in touch and fought back to take the match 21-19.The Indians found themselves behind again in the second game, trailing 11-14 at one stage. But they bounced back, picking up key points in the closing stages to complete a straight-sets victory and record their first win over the Korean duo.After the match, Chirag said the pair remained confident despite losing.“Even when we were down, we still supported each other and stuck around and eventually we knew they would crack at some point and if we stuck to our plans, we knew it would work. We believed in it and we did well,” Chirag said.Satwik explained the approach that helped them turn the match around.

How confident are you that Satwik and Chirag will win the finale?

“Just keep pushing the net, I felt they weren’t in a comfortable position to defend. It’s always a slow start for us, we have to adjust a little bit.”Chirag also said that the pair is making steady progress.“I think we’re going in the right direction and improvement is a constant process, you’re never going to be perfect, there’s always room for improvement and we’re always moving and that we think we’re on the right track.”The win was Satwik and Chirag’s first against the world number one in the Korean combination, despite pushing them close in previous meetings.“We actually only played them twice, once last year in the semifinals of India Open and Malaysia Open and the final in China, it was close but we realized that if we have to beat them, we have to be steady because we knew they have the strongest defense on the circuit,” Chirag said.