THE Shenzhen Arena has been a happy hunting ground for Indian doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty over the last few years and they maintained that trend on Friday with a fighting victory over Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen.
The fourth-seeded Indian pair navigated a tricky deciding game to overcome the World No 17 pair 21-13, 16-21, 21-18 in the men's doubles quarterfinals of the ongoing China Masters in Shenzhen.
In the process, the Indians are through to the semifinals of the BWF Super 750 meet for the fourth successive year. They have twice finished runner-ups (2025 and 2024). They had lost against Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea in the final in 2025 and the former World No 1 pair had beaten the same Danish pair at the same stage of the competition in 2024 to finish third.
Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth's creditable run came to an end as he went down against Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in straight games. The former World No 1, who had stunned Canada's Victor Lai in the last-16 stage, lost 16-21, 16-21 in the men's singles quarterfinal.
Satwik and Chirag, the World No 5 pair, were clear favourites and the difference in class was visible in the opening game as the Indians dominated the proceedings to pocket the opening essay with ease. The second game was a different story as the Danish pair made it an enthralling contest before going on to reel off four consecutive points in crucial stages of the game to even the scores.
The best was yet to come as SatChi were tested thoroughly in the decider. Both Astrup and Rasmussen seemed to have warmed to the occasion and seemed to be one step ahead of the Indians. They were dominating the play in front of the net and had the lead for large parts of the contest.
However, the Indians continued to dig deep and stay in the fight. At 17-17, it was anybody's match. SatChi had shown plenty of patience to go level. Minutes later, it was the Indians who were three points ahead. Until the last point, the Danish pair made the Indians work hard but in the end, the Indians, after 70 minutes of riveting battle, had done just about enough to maintain their happy run at the venue.
