Thailand Open: Satwik-Chirag seek that familiar feeling of winning as they reach another final in Bangkok

Potentially, the world No 1 ranking is in sight once again for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, but at this point on the men’s doubles circuit, it’s a game of musical chairs. It’s changing frequently enough for it to not matter as much in the bigger picture. In the here and now, what matters is good rhythm in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with winning matches consistently.

During the Thomas Cup title defence recently, that feeling went missing for Satwik-Chirag. In what has otherwise been a fine season, they struggled for rhythm in Chengdu. And that is why reaching the final of the Thailand Open will be a timely boost. On Saturday, they produced a dominant performance against Ming Che Lu/Kai Wei Tang of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-12 in the men’s doubles semifinal. The World No. 3 duo will face China’s Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi in the final on Sunday, who are ranked 29 in the world.

“Overall a good tournament for us, we didn’t hit our 100% at the last tournament,” Satwik told BWF later. “We are really happy with the way we have played. We wanted to play as many matches as possible to get that rhythm back. We always love playing in Thailand. It’s a special bond. We won our first medal (Superseries / Super 500+ level) here in 2019, we won Thomas Cup here.”

2️⃣nd final at #ThailandOpen
4️⃣th final at #BWFWorldTour Super 500 events
4️⃣th final of the year

There’s just no stopping them! 🚀👌

📸: @badmintonphoto @himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @Arunlakhanioffi #ThailandOpen2024#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/GnsGjwJYls

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) May 18, 2024

In contrast to their thrilling run in 2019, however, it’s been smooth sailing this week. The pairs they have beaten so far, without dropping a game of course, are ranked 71, 69, 64 and 80 in the world. The most points they have conceded in a game has been 16.

In the semifinal, they didn’t have to get out of second gear in the opening game. Lu / Tang, nervy at the start against the big-hitting Indian duo, struggled to get their lengths right and made a flurry of errors. During a few points it almost felt like SatChi were lifting the shuttles just to get their defensive rhythm going.

The first half of the second game was tighter, starting off with a 26-shot rally, a marathon exchange relatively in terms of what we see typically in men’s doubles. The Taipei pair started enjoying the exchanges, playing with a smile on their faces, knowing they had nothing to lose. They even opened up a 3-point lead. When the Indians won a rally to make it 10-10, Chirag was a little bit frustrated with how long it took them to put away that point. But that is all the joy that Lu/Tang would get as the power game of SatChi came to the fore to power them to a breezy finish.

𝙁𝙄𝙉𝘼𝙇 𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿 🎯

📸: @badmintonphoto@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @Arunlakhanioffi #ThailandOpen2024#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/uXnwLkx5pF

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) May 18, 2024

It will be their fourth title match of 2024 already. Runners-up in Malaysia. Runners-up in India. Winners in France. And now a chance to add another title in Thailand. In 2019, they reached the final after defeating the former and then reigning World Champions back-to-back. It was a giant-killing run that signalled their arrival on the big stage. Fast forward to 2024, they are one of the giants on the circuit.

Looking back at how important the title in 2019 was, Chirag said: “We had always dreamt of winning a Superseries title. Whenever we used to watch all the top players playing in these tournaments, like Lee Yong Dae, Mathias Boe and all… and in a competitive category like men’s doubles. It was great for our confidence, it gave us belief we can achieve.”

A few of the top pairs in the world have given the tournament a miss, and the seeded Indonesians made early exits. On Sunday, it will be a Chinese pairing that the Indians will be expected to get the better of, starting firm favourites on paper.

“Nobody can play a perfect game all the time, there will be a lot of expectations in India, but for us we are not thinking too much about winning the title. We have had past experiences. It’s one step at a time, settle down and get rhythm. We will give everything here and see what happens,” Satwik said.

If they do end up winning, Bangkok will provide SatChi another title to cherish. It may not be the highest-stakes match they have played even if World No 1 is on the horizon once more, the target firmly remains Paris. But the feeling of winning titles is a habit they can get used to. As Satwik put it, “We always remember the good things fondly. Thailand has more good memories than bad memories for us, even in junior and subjuniors I have done well. We want to make it more memorable tomorrow.”

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