Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Thailand Open Super 500 title, beating the Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 on Sunday morning. This is the Indian pair's second title of 2024 and seals their return to the world No 1 position again.
The top seeds were overwhelming favourites for the title and rubber-stamped their credentials with a confident show, winning without dropping a single game and sailing through even when the final got a bit tricky. They started the match with a good lead before the 29th ranked Chinese pair went on a run and had a slender 1-point lead at the mid-game interval. Satwik-Chirag then calmly took back the lead and went on a run of their own to seal the first game with ease.
In the second, the Indians built a sizeable lead in the first half and then maintained it through the second. There was a brief moment where Chen and Liu had reduced the lead to just 1 points but the top seeds played their game with pace and power to quell any comeback and sealed the match on the first Championship point.
In a widely open draw in a depleted men's doubles field, there was nothing less than a title run expected from the Indian world No 3 pair, who will be happy to be back at No 1 after a rough outing in their laast two tournaments - the All England Championship (second round) and Thomas Cup (quarterfinals)
You can relive all the final action in our live blog:
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This was fourth final of the season, where they will be looking for their second title. The duo had finished runner-up at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 before claiming the French Super 750 in March.
Their final opponents were ranked 29th in the world and beat Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang of South Korea - who had beaten second seeds and Sat-Chi's recent nemeses - Indonesia's Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana in the second round - 21-19 21-18 in the other semifinal
Satwik and Chirag have fond memories in Thailand where they had won their maiden Super 500 crown in 2019.
"It has already been a good tournament for us. We wanted to play more tournaments to get the rhythm back. We always love playing in Thailand, there is a special bond here. We won our first medal, we won Thomas Cup here, and now one more final here. It's really amazing," Satwik said.
"We wanted to go deep into the tournament and we have been winning consistently so one more day to go now, so we will give our best performance tomorrow," Chirag said.
The Thailand Open final starts at 10.30 AM IST and will be streamed in Jio Cinema.