Malaysia Open Super 1000: Satwik-Chirag overcome mid-match slump to ease into 2nd round

In what was by no means a flawless display, seventh seeds Satwik-Chirag overcame a mid-match slump to begin their 2025 season with a 21-10, 16-21, 21-5 win in a 56-minute round of 32 contest on Wednesday at the Malaysia Open Super 1000.

After the first few exchanges were largely played out in the first three shots, as often seen in men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag started to impose their attacking presence on the match. The first major rally of the match was the one that gave the Indians an 11-6 lead at the interval – and a first mid-match intervention for coach Tan Kim Her who is back in their corner for a second stint. The Malaysian, who trusted his gut to pair them up back in 2016, would have liked what he saw at that point, especially immediately after the interval. It was a procession of points for Satwik and Chirag as they closed out the opener by winning 14 of the last 18 points overall.

The Indians did come under pressure early in Game 2 as Lu and Tang opened up an 8-4 lead, keeping the rallies short and flat. At the interval, the scoreline was reversed from the opener as Satwik-Chirag found themselves 6-11 down this time, and with work to do. One of the longer rallies of the match, which saw Satwik and Chirag having to defend quite a lot, made it 8-12 as they started to close the gap down. But Lu and Tang kept the Indians at an arm’s length and at 17-11, had the decider well within their reach.

A critical rally, when the Indians could have made it 17-19 and caused some serious nerves for the Taipei pair, saw Lu and Tang hold on to earn four game points and force the decider.

Expectedly, Chirag started the decider by pumping himself up and despite having to do a lot of defending, the Indians opened up a 5-2 lead. That little early momentum pushed SatChi ahead along their merry way as the shot quality returned and they once again took control of the rallies, going on a run of 6 points to take an 11-3 lead at the final change of ends. They kept the pressure up after the interval and went up 15-4, at which point there seemed to be only one winner.

Home favourite Goh Jin Wei 🇲🇾 rivals Malvika Bansod 🇮🇳.#BWFWorldTour #MalaysiaOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/oKoas7lcJm

— BWF (@bwfmedia) January 8, 2025

Prannoy, Malvika post wins

In a match that started on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday, HS Prannoy made a winning return to the circuit with a typically hard-fought three-game win against Canada’s Brian Yang 21-12, 17-21, 21-15 in an 89-minute marathon. Eventually, it perhaps helped that Prannoy could be relatively fresh as he builds his way back up on the circuit after the match had to be suspended on opening day due to persistent roof leakage. “A win after a long break… fittingly, in a match that took one too! Moving on to the next,” Prannoy posted on Instagram. He will next face seventh seed Shi Feng Li of China, who got the better of Priyanshu Rajawat 21-11, 21-16.

Continuing her good recent form, Malvika Bansod posted another impressive win. Now the India No.2, behind only PV Sindhu, the world No.31 overcame former junior world champion and home favourite Goh Jin Wei in straight games 21-15, 21-16 in 45 minutes. She faces third seed Han Yue next.

Tanisha Crasto, who is looking to make a serious mixed doubles push this season with Dhruv Kapila, overcame Korea’s Ko Sung Hyun and Eom Hye Won 21-13, 21-14 in just 30 minutes. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath also reached the mixed doubles round of 16, defeating another Indian duo Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh 21-13, 21-15.