French Open Badminton 2024: Satwik-Chirag Enter Third Final Of 2024; Lakshya Sen Bows Out Fighting

India's top doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their third successive final on the BWF World Tour 2024, but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen in French Open Badminton 2024 tournament at the Adidas Arena in Paris on Saturday (March 9).

The tops seeds and former champions Satwik-Chirag registered a dominating win over reigning world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae of South Korea in the semifinals.

Rankireddy and Chirag beat the current world champions from South Korea by straight games 21-13, 21-16 in 40 minutes on court 1 to reach their third French Open final.

After easing through in the first game, Satwik and Chirag continued with the momentum in the second essay, but the Korean duo tried to fight back. However, the early lead claimed by the Indians helped them win the match in 40 minutes.

Rankireddy and Shetty will face Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei andYang Po-Hsuan in the finals on Sunday (March 10). The Indian duo hold a 2-0 advantage over the Chinese Taipei duo, including a victory at the 2021 French Open.

Earlier on Saturday (March 9), Sen, the world number 19 shuttler, went down fighting to eighth-ranked Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand by 21-19, 13-21, 11-21 in an hour and 18 minutes on court 1.

The Commonwealth Games champion Sen dominated the first game initially, leading by 6-3. But, the Thai shuttler fought his way back to level the scores at 15-15. Sen, however, used quick hands and powerful smashes, winning a 48-shot rally to win the opening game.

In the second game, the Indian's performance dipped massively allowing Vitidsarn to take advantage in the match. Eventually, the eighth seed emerged victorious in the 78-minute affair and sealed his spot in the finals.

Reaching the semi-final in a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 750 event, will help Sen in getting crucial points for qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The qualification window to the multi-sport extravaganza opened in May last year and will close on April 28.

Earlier on Friday (March 8), India's PV Sindhu and doubles pair Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand bowed out in the quarter-finals following contrasting defeats.

On her comeback trail from a four-month-long injury layoff, Sindhu showed brilliant fight during a marathon one hour and 32-minute battle before going down 24-22, 17-21, 18-21 to the second seed and defending champion Chen Yu Fei of China in a riveting last eight battle.

Treesa-Gayatri pair, on the other hand, suffered a straight games loss to top seeds hen Qingchen & Jia Yifan of China by a scoreline of 18-21, 7-21 in the women's doubles quarter-final that lasted just 36 minutes.