• Source:PTI
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China Masters: India's top men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their consistent run to advance to the semifinals of the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament but PV Sindhu bowed out after falling yet again to Olympic champion An Se Young here on Friday.

Satwik and Chirag, the former world No.1 Indian duo, who recently clinched their second World Championships bronze in Paris and finished runners-up at the Hong Kong Open last week, produced a clinical performance to outclass the Chinese pair of Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan 21-14, 21-14 in the quarterfinals.

"We felt quite comfortable out there. Our goal was just to focus on our game and see how they responded. Right now, the way we're playing, it feels great — especially being able to play back-to-back matches freely, without any niggles, really happy with how we played today," Satwik said as quoted by PTI.

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"I think we made it tough for them right from the start. We didn't allow them to settle into the game at all. They're definitely a strong pair, but our plan was to keep things simple and take an early lead — and we managed to do that. So yes, really happy with the performance," Chirag added.

Satwik and Chirag got off to a flying start, unleashing a flurry of smashes to race to a 7-0 lead. A couple of errors allowed the Chinese to close in at 3-8, but the Indians maintained their rhythm to enter the interval with an 11-5 advantage.

Chirag's flick serve made it 13-7, and another intense rally ended with the Chinese hitting wide to give India a 17-10 lead. They pocketed the opening game after converting their second game point.

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The second game was a closer affair in the early exchanges, with both pairs level at 7-7. However, the Indians pulled away to lead 11-9 at the mid-game interval courtesy of disciplined net play and sharp smashes.

After the break, Satwik and Chirag upped the ante, with Chirag firing two consecutive smashes to make it 19-13 to seal the match.