India Open Super 750: How Satwik-Chirag produced a tactical masterclass to defeat a tricky Korean pair and reach the semifinals

Relentless would be a word that best described Satwik and Chirag’s start to the match. They started off with a few patiently constructed points, but there were clear early signs that they were prepared to take the pace off from the shuttle. Cast your mind back to the 2024 India Open final, Kang – along with this then-partner Seo Seung Jae – did just that to throw the Indians off their attacking game.

But here, the Indians were prepared to mix things up. Within the blink of an eye, they raced to a 9-1 lead. There was really just one long rally in those opening 10 points but it was otherwise all India. The point for 9-1 was the perfect example of their early gameplay, as they mixed up smashes with a slow drop, pinging the two deep corners with their flat pushes, before killing it with a big smash.

The 7th-seeded men’s doubles pairing reached their second straight semifinal to kick off the 2025 season. (BAI)

“I think right from the get-go, we were all guns blazing. That’s what we wanted to do,” Chirag said after the match. “As you could see at the end, if we were a bit slow, they could capitalize by maneuvering the shuttle around. We wanted to prevent them from getting back into the game. I’m happy we stuck to the plan until the end. We definitely hoped to catch them by surprise at the start. Our strongest point is putting them under pressure from point 1, and that’s what we did.”

At 11-3 in the opening game, the message from the coaching duo of Tan Kim Her and Manu Attri seemed to keep changing flanks as much as possible. Kim and Jin did get into the rallies a bit more as the game went on, but 21-10 was a fair reflection of the Indians’ dominance.

There was a point early on in Game 2 that also showcased another area that Chirag and Satwik have been working on: changing directions as much as possible even when defending, instead of just lifting straight always. At 7-4, Satwik lifted the shuttle to the left-handed Jin to his forehand side, and the Korean went for the big booming smash. Seeing the empty space that opened up, Satwik played a stunning crosscourt backhand drive instead of lifting it straight once more. There was a gasp in the arena at the moment at the audacity of the shot, and the Hawkeye review showed the shuttle caught the sideline literally by millimeters. In a moment, defence turned into attack. In the previous rally, Chirag had employed the same tactic.

“Yes, it’s kind of the mixed doubles style actually,” Satwik said when asked if they had been working on this. “When I used to play mixed before, there used to be a lot of cross, cross, cross. Like how the Koreans are doing these days. The first thing when Tan coach came to India, he told me: ‘Get back to being the Old Satwik. You are just simply lifting all the time, you are not confident enough.’ So I started working on that, and now I have a lot of confidence when the shuttle comes to me low. And if it’s not possible to do it, I can always use the lift. So I have 3-4 options that way.”

Satwik also added that former Olympians Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri, have been telling them to play a no-lob game and focus more on the frontcourt, as the top pairs are not keen on lifting the shuttle to them.

The Koreans did threaten to fight back in the second game, going from 8-14 to 16-16. But the Indians didn’t panic. “We were comfortable even though it was getting close. We knew that if we kept the pressure on, they wouldn’t sustain it. It was our mistakes in the last few points that brought them close. But there was no tension. Even when I was down, Chirag was controlling the game. I was confident in every stroke, believing we’d score a point. That made a difference.”

On Saturday, SatChi will take on Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, the world No 13 Malaysians who trail 1-6 against the Indians in the Head-to-Head record.