Sydney, Nov 18 (UNI) Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the men’s doubles second round of the Australian Open 2025 with a hard-fought straight-games win here on Tuesday.
Top-seeded at the BWF Super 500 event, the Indian duo overcame a stiff challenge from Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ko-chi and Po Li-wei to prevail 25-23, 21-16 in 48 minutes.
Satwik and Chirag were pushed early, trailing 2-6 in the opening game before steadying themselves with four straight points.
The Chinese Taipei pair kept the pressure on and held leads at 9-7 and 16-14, but the Indians matched them blow for blow as the game tightened at 19-19. The top seeds then saved three game points and showed their composure to clinch the opener.
The second game saw Chirag-Satwik move ahead 7-4 before their opponents levelled at 8-8 and nudged ahead 10-8. The Indians responded with six consecutive points to seize control, and despite a brief fightback, closed out the match with three unanswered points to win their first-ever meeting against Chang and Po.
The Indian pair will next face Su Ching-heng and Wu Guan-Xun of Chinese Taipei for a berth in the quarterfinals.
In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, returning to the BWF World Tour after July, endured a difficult comeback. The fourth-seeded Indian pair, ranked 14th in the world, went down tamely 10-21, 14-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 83 duo Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in 40 minutes.
World championships medallists Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth and young prospect Ayush Shetty will open their men’s singles campaigns on Wednesday.
