Paris, Oct 28:
The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s best efforts went in vain as they lost to top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the final of the French Open Super 750 here.
The duo suffered a 18-21 16-21 loss to Marcus and Kevin, who are enjoying their 121st week as world number one. Satwik and Chirag had come into the match with a 0-6 head-to-head record against the Indonesian pair and it has now become 0-7.
Satwik and Chirag, who had won their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August, looked a bit nervy in the 35-minute final.
Despite the loss, the duo’s effort is commendable as this is the first time an Indian men’s doubles pair has reached a World Tour 750 final.
Partho Ganguli and Vikram Singh Bisht were the last all-Indian pair to win the French Open in 1983.
In singles, Kidambi Srikanth had won the men’s title in 2017, while Saina Nehwal was the only other Indian to make it to the women’s final in 2012.
Meanwhile, Rio Olympics champion fifth seed Chinese Chen Long grabbed the men’s singles trophy with a 21-19 21-12 win over Indonesia’s Jonathan Christie in the final which lasted 51 minutes. Long became the second shuttler in the history of French Open to retain the title since India’s Vimal Kumar did in 1983-84.
In the women’s section, Korean teen sensation An Se-young stunned reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin in an epic final to lift the women’s singles title at the French Open badminton tournament, here on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Korean erased a one-game deficit to beat the three-time World Champion 16-21 21-18-21-5 in a gripping 69-minute contest.
It was Se-young’s fourth title of the season and first at BWF Super 750 level as she further underlined her growth as a world class shuttler. (PTI)
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