India' star men's doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the Hong Kong Open Super 500 quarterfinals after beating Thailand pair Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul on September 11 in Hong Kong.
The unseeded Thai pair stunned former world no.1 pair in the first game, but the latter wrapped up the proceedings in 63 minutes with an 18-21 21-15 21-11 win.
Current world no.9 and eighth seeded Satwik and Chirag were off their game in the opening game as the Thai pair frustrated them. The Indian pair made a comeback, leading to 18-18. But, the unseeded pair won three points in a row to win the first game.
The energy of star Indian pair was different when they stepped on the court in the second game. But, the Thai pair did not hold back. During the mid-game break, Indian pair had a nominal lead with score of 11-10. But, the Thai pair seemed to run out of ideas as experienced Satwik and Chirag took the game 21-15.
In the decider, there wasn't much of a fight. Satwik and Chirag took a 7-2 lead and the Thai pair could not play catch-up.
Satwik and Chirag will now go up against Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap. They will look to make it to another semifinal after bagging a bronze in Paris World Championships.
Lakshya beats Prannoy
Meanwhile, young Lakshya Sen beat veteran HS Prannoy 15-21 21-18 21-10 in the men's quarter-final. Later in the day, women's doubles pair Rutaparna and Swetaparna Pandya will lock horns with Chinese pair Li Yi King and Luo Xu Min who are fifth seeds in the tournament.
Sindhu crashes out
Earlier, on September 10, India's two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu lost to unseeded Line Christophersen from Denmark. In the women's singles round of 32, Sindhu lost 21-15 16-21 19-21.