Star Indian duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty opened their Australian Open Super 500 campaign with a hard-fought straight-games win on Tuesday, advancing to the men’s doubles second round after overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ko-Chi and Po Li-Wei 25-23, 21-16 in a 48-minute battle.
Ranked world No. 3, Satwik and Chirag—coming off consecutive finals appearances at the Hong Kong Super 500 and China Masters Super 750—were pushed to the edge in the opening game.
Trailing 2-6 early and still behind at 14-16, the Indians wrested control to earn multiple game points before finally sealing it after a tense exchange at the net.
The second game saw the Indians settle into rhythm, pulling ahead 7-4 before the Taiwanese pair fought back.
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At 11-10 at the interval, Satwik and Chirag shifted gears, extending their lead to 18-15 and finishing the match with a flurry of powerful smashes.
In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand exited in the opening round, losing 10-21, 14-21 to Indonesia’s F. Kusuma and M. Puspitasari.
India’s singles contingent—including Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth and Ayush Shetty—will begin their campaigns on Wednesday.
