French Open: Satwik-Chirag reach final, Lakshya Sen crashes out in semis
Top seeds and former champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the third final at French Open. On the other hand, Lakshya Sen got beaten by Kunlavut Vitisarn.
In Short
- Satwik-Chirag reach final of French Open 2024
- Satwik-Chirag win in straight sets against world champions
- Lakshya Sen crashes out of the tournament
Top seeds and former champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached third consecutive final of 2024 and third final at French Open after a dominating win over reigning world champions Kang Minhyuk/Seo Seungjae of Korea 21-13, 21-16 in the men’s doubles semifinal in Paris.
India’s top duo will face the winner between Japan’s Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi and Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei/Yang Po-Hsuan in the finals on Sunday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had earlier spoken about peaking right before the Paris Olympics. He had said that Chirag Shetty and him wanted to remain calm and take things step by step in ahead of the big tournament.
"We don't want to peak right now (chuckles); we're keeping our best game for the Olympics. We have a lot more left in our tank, and we are coming up with different gameplay and plans before the Olympics," Satwik had told PTI during a promotional event on February 3, Saturday.
"We have a lot of tournaments coming up before the Olympics, including the All England, which is very special for all our team members, where we want to do well. But, in the back of the mind, we are thinking about the Olympics," he had said.
On the other hand, 22-year-old Lakshya Sen crashed out of the tournament after a 3-game battle against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Ranked 19 in the world at the moment, Sen started well against rank 8 Vitidsarn. The Indian shuttler held on to a gritty 22-20 victory in the first game of the match. However, Vitidsarn turned out to be too good for the Indian shuttler, and won the next two games 21-13, 21-11.