Hong Kong Open: Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag duo enters final

HONG KONG: India’s Lakshya Sen entered his first major final in two years after edging out Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in straight games, while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash on Saturday.

The 23-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, ended a long wait for a title shot with a hard-fought 23-21, 22-20 win over world No 9 and third seed Chou in a gruelling 56-minute semi-final. The Commonwealth Games champion had last won a Super 500 crown at the Canada Open in July 2023 and followed it with a Super 300 triumph at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow in December. Currently ranked world No 20, Lakshya will face China’s second seed Li Shi Feng in the final.

Earlier, the world No 9 duo of Satwik and Chirag broke their semifinal jinx with a 21-17, 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei’s Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng-Kuan. It was their first final of the season after six semi-final exits. The eighth-seeded pair will now meet China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, silver medallists at the Paris Olympics.

“Finals, finally. It’s been seven semi-finals since the China Open last year. We really wanted to play a final, and it’s been a while,” Chirag said. “The last one was at the Thailand Open before the Olympics. The World Championships was good, but this feels special—we’re just glad to break that jinx.”

In his match, Lakshya read Chou’s attack smartly and kept the upper hand for most of the contest. He led 3-0 early before the 35-year-old Chou levelled at 12-12. A 51-shot rally at 19-all highlighted the opener, which Lakshya eventually sealed 23-21 after a net cord.

The second game saw Lakshya trail 4-7 and later 14-17 as Chou pressed with smashes and jump hits. But the Indian rallied brilliantly, saving two game points at 18-20 and drawing level with a smash and a defensive winner. Another net cord handed him match point, which he converted to secure victory 22-20.

The win puts Lakshya on the brink of his biggest title in nearly two years, while Satwik and Chirag chase their first trophy of the season.

Satwik-Chirag duo on a run

The opening game saw the two pairs locked at 3-3 and 6-6 before Satwik's smashes and Chirag's sharp interceptions helped the Indians inch ahead 11-8.

Though the Taiwanese clawed back to 12-12, the Indians surged to 15-12 and closed the game on their second game point with Chirag's angled, high-paced return.

Chen and Lin started stronger in the second, leading 4-2, but India restored parity at 6-6 after a service misjudgement from their opponents.

A couple of errors from Chirag gave the Taiwanese a 10-8 cushion, only for Satwik to unleash another booming smash to level things at 12-all.

From there, the Indians tightened their grip, moving to 17-15 as Satwik punished a weak return.

Soon it became 19-15 in India's favour before a net error by Chen handed Satwik and Chirag five match points.

The Indians converted immediately after the Taiwanese went long.