Satwik and Chirag, third seeds and world No. 3 in the badminton rankings, beat former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-14, 21-17 in the quarter-finals, which lasted for 40 minutes.
It was the Indian duo’s fourth win over the former world No. 1 Japanese pair in five meetings.
In the quarter-finals, the Indian pair quickly took control of the first game with two separate runs of five consecutive points. From 5-5, the scores went to 15-6 in favour of Chirag-Satwik.
The Japanese duo bagged the next four points but the deficit proved too much to overcome as the Indians won the first game 21-14.
In the second game, the two teams were at 8-8 before the Indian badminton players switched gears to win six consecutive points to take the lead at 14-9. Hoki-Kobayashi won three straight points to level the scores at 16-16. But the Indian pair edged away to seal the game 21-17.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag will play second seeds and world No. 2 duo Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Notably, results at the Korea Open count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year.
–IANS
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