Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty Enter Korea Open Final

Star Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the final of Korea Open super 500 badminton tournament with a thrilling straight-game win over world number two Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in Yeosu on Saturday. The world number three Indian pair notched up a 21-15 24-22 win over the second seeded Chinese in a 40-minute duel at the Jinnam stadium. It was Satwik and Chirag's first win over the Chinese pair following two earlier defeats.

Satwik and Chirag, who has won the Indonesia Super 1000 and Swiss Open Super 500 titles this year, will be up against either top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia or Korea's Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae in the summit clash.

The Chinese, who have won the Thailand and India Open this year, came into the match with a 2-0 head-to-head record but it was a different day as the Indians produced a fine show to reach their second successive final, having won the Indonesia Open in their last tournament in June.

Both pairs engaged in short rallies and pounced on anything weak. The result was the pairs moved neck-and-neck from 3-3 to 5-5.

India had a slender 7-5 lead but Liang unleashed a precise smash between the two. The Indians, however, managed to hold on to a three-point cushion at the interval once Liang found the net.

The lead swelled to 14-8 with the Chinese finding the net and going long.

Satwik then dished out his trademark smash but the Chinese duo got a couple of points, mainly due to Chirag's judgement error on the backline.

Another smash going to net from Liang and it was 17-11 up for Indians, who soon made it 19-12 with Satwik producing an accurate cross court return.

Satwik and Chirag had six game points after Wang sent