Daijiworld Media Network - Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Sep 9: India’s leading men’s doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty opened their Hong Kong Open Super 500 campaign with a hard-fought win on Tuesday, while Kiran George stormed into the main draw of men’s singles through the qualifiers.

Fresh from their World Championships bronze in Paris, Satwik and Chirag defeated Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in their opener. The eighth seeds looked sharp early on, faltered in the second, but regained control in the decider with their strong net play and trademark smashes. They will next face the winners between Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi/Hiroki Okamura and Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun/Pakkapon Teeraratsakul.

In men’s singles, Kiran George sealed his main draw spot with back-to-back straight-game victories. He beat Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei 21-14, 21-13 before outplaying compatriot S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian 21-18, 21-14. Kiran, ranked world No. 38, now faces Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh in the first round.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Tharun Mannepalli created a major upset by knocking out former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 21-13 in qualifying. However, his run ended in the next match as he lost to Malaysia’s fourth seed Justin Hoh 21-23, 13-21, 18-21.