Jakarta: Young Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty produced a spirited comeback to reach the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals, while star men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were forced to retire from their opening-round match at the Indonesia Open here on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Ayush, ranked 20th in the world, recovered from a one-sided first game to defeat China’s world No 15 Weng Hong Yang 8-21, 22-20, 21-15 in a 66-minute contest. Trailing 11-15 in the second game, Ayush fought back with a series of impressive rallies to force a decider before taking control of the third game. He will next face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.
In men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag’s campaign ended prematurely after the former experienced a shoulder problem. The Indian pair, fresh from their Singapore Open triumph last week, retired while trailing Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai 6-11 in the opening game.
There was good news in mixed doubles as Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde upset world No 20 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-14 to enter the second round.
However, HS Prannoy suffered a first-round exit against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen, while Unnati Hooda went down to former world No 1 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight games.
