Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned world champions and top seeds Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae of South Korea 21-19, 21-18 in the semifinals of the Singapore Open BWF Super 750 tournament on Saturday.The former world No. 1 Indian pair is now just one step away from ending a two-year title drought, having last won the Thailand Open in May 2024. But it was curtains for the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who lost to Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara 16-21, 21-17, 13-21 in the last-four stage.Short of success since their Thailand Open triumph 24 months ago, the Indian pair will be eager to break the jinx when they face the winners of the semifinal between third seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia and fifth seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China. The Singapore Open will be their fifth final since the Thailand success. They have also lost eight semifinals in the last two years.Speaking after the victory, Chirag said, “We’re happy with the way we played today. Even when we were down, we kept backing each other. We knew if we stuck around, they would crack at some point. If we stick to our plan, points will eventually come. That’s the plan, we had that belief and it worked well for us.”“We wanted to keep pushing into the net, see what they do. We are happy with our progress,” Satwik said.
