Jakarta (TIP)- India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shocked top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto to sail into the men’s doubles semifinals as HS Prannoy beat Kodai Naraoka to enter the last-four stage of the men’s singles competition at the Indonesia Open on June 16. The seventh-seeded duo of Rankireddy and Shetty displayed a flawless game to outwit Indonesia’s Alfian and Ardianto 21-13 21-13 in 41 minutes.
Seventh seed Prannoy prevailed over the third-seeded Naraoka 21-18 21-6 to book his semifinals berth. Prannoy will now take on top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who mauled Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou 21-5 21-19.
However, Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after going down fighting to China’s Li Shi Feng in the quarterfinals. The first Indian to take the court, Srikanth lost 14-21 21-14 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to the world No. 10. The win enabled Feng to restore parity in the head-to-head record against Srikanth, which stands at 1-1 now.
In the first game, it was the Chinese who came out on top despite a sluggish start. World No. 22 Srikanth opened up an early 2-0 lead before Feng bounced back with five straight points, with the Indian guilty of committing too many unforced errors.