India Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty Pair Wins, Error-Prone Kidambi Srikanth Goes Down In Opener

Celebrated Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of the men's doubles event at India Open Super 750 tournament but an erratic Kidambi Srikanth bowed out after a straight-game loss to Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu in New Delhi on Wednesday. World No. 2 Satwik and Chirag, who had finished runner-up at Malaysia Super 1000 last week in Kuala Lumpur, eked out a 21-15 19-21 21-16 win over Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee of Chinese Taipei.

Earlier, a flurry of brilliant shots was sandwiched between a series of unforced errors during the 47-minute opening round clash as Srikanth went down 22-24 13-21 to world no. 18 Lee.

The Indian duo will face the winner of the match between England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy and Chiense Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.

Satwik and Chirag, the Asian Games gold medallists, looked sharp as they opened up a lead and earned the bragging rights by grabbing the opening game. But Fang-Chih and Fang-Jen managed to claw back in the second game to take a 11-5 lead at the break.

The Indian pair however led a late fight back to narrow it down to 18-19 but their opponents held their nerves to force a decider.

In the final game, Satwik and Chirag once again dominated the rallies with their attacking strokes to come up trumps.

"We are really happy with the way we are playing and the way we have started. We have worked a lot on our defence over the past two years and it has brought a new facet in our armor because you can't always rely on your attack in these slow conditions.

"We are happy to get that first win here and hopefully, we go deep into the tournament," Satwik said. In men's singles, Srikanth made a good start in the opening game, playing some fine