The Indian duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty repeated their 2022 heroics on March 10 to win the French Open tournament for the second time. Rankireddy and Shetty did not give Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan an inch in the men's doubles final and beat them 21-11 21-17 in just 37 minutes to win the French title.
After finishing second-best at Malaysia Super 1000, India Super 750, and runners-up at China Masters Super 750, the world no.1 Indian pair got over the line this time to boost chief coach Pullela Gopichand's hopes of getting a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
"It feels really sweet. Paris has always been special for us and we have always played good badminton here and it has been a second home for us. It is a test venue for Olympics but that is still some months away," Chirag said after the one-sided affair.
“I would be lying if I say that I am not enjoying that (winning at Olympic venue) but we have won this final. There is another tournament next week, so looking forward to that.”
The Indian pair won the title without dropping a single game in the week. After a dominant display, they celebrated in their typical fashion.
"It all started from Thomas Cup and it became a habit and it has been a long time since we danced. It is after fourth finals. We just wanted to go and have fun and let them earn points and the match," Satwik said.
"We wanted to give our 100 percent and enjoy. Even Mathias (Boe) kept telling us to have fun and we got back our rhythm and the momentum changed."
Rankireddy and Shetty had not lost to the Taiwanese pair but Lee and Yang were high on their German Open win last week.
"They had some good weeks, they have beaten some good oppositions, and we knew we can't take them lightly, their ranking might not be high but they have always been a formidable game. So we are happy that we could take that first game and after initial jittery take the second as well," Chirag said.
Easy first game
Rankireddy and Shetty's defense was strong and they took an early lead. They forced the Taiwanese errors to make mistakes and in no time took an 11-6 lead. The mistakes continued and they were leading 14-6. With 10 game points, Rankireddy's cross-court smash ended the first game.
Taiwan make comeback but Indian duo provides clinical finish
In the second game, Lee and Yang took a 4-1 lead with their constant attacks. But the Indian pair were able to put the pressure back to make it 5-5 as the Taiwanese erred with a flick serve that hit the net. Rankireddy's couple of smashes helped them take the lead. But Lee and Yang could not hold on to the lead and gave it away with a service error. It was even-stevens till 14-14. But the Indian duo created pressure by putting more pressure on their opponents. The Taiwanese pair crumbled under pressure and lost the second game as Rankireddy and Shetty got their hands on another trophy.
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