India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Rory Easton and Zach Russ of England in the pre-quarterfinal of the Hylo Open 2022 BWF Super 300 competition on Thursday in Saarbrucken, Germany.
The Indian duo won 22-24, 21-15, 21-11, defeating the Easton-Russ combo, ranked No. 56 in the world in badminton.
After a thrilling first period in which both teams traded back-to-back points, Easton and Russ maintained their composure to win the first game.
Early on in the second game, it was close, but Rankireddy and Shetty hit a tee shot from 8-7 to win by six points and force a final.
The Indian pair set the tone for the third game by scoring nine points in a row to open the contest. The eighth-ranked team of Satwik-Chirag easily won the third game by a score of 10 to proceed to the men's doubles quarterfinals.
At the Hylo Open 2022 on Friday, Rankireddy and Shetty will take on the seventh-seeded English team of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. The Indians defeated the other pair to win the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, which was their most recent encounter.
The Indian ace shuttler duo recently won the French Open tournament held in France.
Later on in the day, in the round of 16 of the women's singles competition, Malvika Bansod, age 21, defeated Kirsty Gilmour, a bronze medalist from Scotland in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In a tense first game, Bansod maintained composure to win 24-22. In the second game, the world No. 39 went on to win seven straight points before an injured Gilmour quit with a score of 19-7 in Bansod's favour.
On Friday, Malvika Bansod will compete in the women's singles quarterfinal of the Hylo Open 2022 against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
Kidambi Srikanth defeated world No. 43, Arnaud Merkle of France, in the final match of the day 11-21, 21-13, 21-10 to go to the men's singles quarterfinals.
The French player won the opening game thanks to a string of rapid points near the conclusion. However, the silver medalist from the 2021 World Championships rediscovered his form in the second game to extend the contest to three games.
In the third game, Kidambi Srikanth demonstrated his superiority by winning by an 11-point margin. The sixth-seeded Jonatan Christie of Indonesia is the opponent for the 29-year-old Indian shuttler.
Earlier Saina Nehwal lost her opening game in the event to crash out of the Hylo Open 2022.
( With inputs from ANI )
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