Satwik-Chirag pair reaches Indonesia Open final, Prannoy bows out in semis

It was another bittersweet day for India at the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event after Indias crack doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty put up a valiant effort to advance to the final but it was curtains for HS Prannoy in the mens singles semifinals on SaturdayThe Commonwealth Games gold medalist duo of Satwik and Chirag seeded seventh overcame onegame deficit to beat unseeded Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo of Korea 1721 2119 2118 to seal their maiden Super1000 final berthWe feel really good the way we played today They made a comeback in the third game but we stuck till the end and I am happy that we didnt run away from our tactics We stuck to it till the very end First time we are in a Super 1000 final and so it feels good Chirag said after the winThey Koreans too have a really strong defence so it was sort of a attack vs defence game You just cant blindly attack them We were mixing it upAsked about Sundays final Satwik responded Its a new day get back and recover our body first I was not feeling 100 per cent in the first game Slowly I got my rhythm in the second gameThe win also extended their overall headtohead record over Kang and Seo to 32World No 6 pair will now face the winners Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan of Indonesia and second seeds Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of MalaysiaAlso Read Indonesia Open SatwikChirag overcome stiff challenge to enter mens doubles finalThe mens doubles began on an even keel before the Korean pair surged ahead to 63 in the opening gameOnce they conceded the lead Satwik and Chirag were forced to play a catchup gameThe Indians used their aggressive play to reduce the margin to 1519 and then 1720 before Kang and Seo kept their composure to pocket the first game courtesy an unforced errorThe Indians looked more purposeful after the change of ends and took an early 63 lead before racing to 114 with a flurry of fast paced shots and body smashes in the second gameSatwik and Chirag were also helped by some bad line calls and unforced errors from the Koreans But Kang and Seo didnt give up and clawed their way back in the game to reduce the gap to 1815 But the Indians managed to hold on to their nerves and played sensibly to pocket the second game and level the scoresThe first first five points was closely fought before Satwik and Chirag pocketed seven straight points to race to 125 leadThe Koreans tried hard to bounce back and at one time levelled the scores at 1616 but that is when Satwik and Chirag upped the ante and closed out the game and the matchHowever Prannoy failed to rise to the occasion against top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark going down 1521 1521 in straight gamesPrannoy played the catch up game from the onset and was never really in for a fight He showed sparks of brilliance in between riding on his cross court smashes but Axelsens drop shots and court coverage was good enough to help him take a decisive lead in both gamesThe script unfolded in the same manner in the both games as Axelsen continued to maintain his upperhand and pocket the game and match in identical mannerIt was Prannoys sixth loss against the Dane in the international circuit as against two winsWith PTI inputs