Satwik-Chirag in semis, Se Young eclipses Sindhu

Shenzhen: 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 but PV Sindhu bowed out after falling yet again to Olympics champion An Se Young here on Friday.

Satwiksairaj 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 Chinese pair of Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Haonan 21-14 21-14 in the quarterfinals.

Currently ranked ninth in the world, the Indians are likely to face their arch-rivals and second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the semifinals on Saturday.

Earlier, double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu's woeful run against world No. 1 An Se Young continued, as the Indian suffered her eighth straight defeat against the Korean, going down 14-21 13-21 in the women's singles quarterfinals.

"Last week wasn't great for me, but this week has been really positive. Reaching the quarterfinals has been encouraging, and I think the key now is to maintain that level and stay consistent in everything I do," Sindhu said.Sindhu said the key to winning matches where there is strong air-conditioning drift is to control one’s shots.

“It’s (drift) always there, every tournament there is wind but it is important that you have control. But sometimes it’s very hard to control.”

Sindhu is currently working along side Indian women’s singles coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama, the former men’s singles coach of the Indonesian badminton team.

Sindhu's struggles against An Se Young continued, as the Korean dominated proceedings from the start. agencies