Indonesia Open: Aaron-Wooi Yik finish runners-up after straight-game defeat

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s hopes of claiming their first BWF World Tour title were dashed after the Malaysians lost in the Indonesia Open men’s doubles final, going down 17-21 18-21 against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty.

The Malaysians didn’t come close to making that breakthrough on the back of this defeat against the Asian champions, who were scintillating throughout this 43-minute contest at the Istora Senayan.

The first game was crucial to determine who got the upper hand, and it was the Indians who eventually grew into the game to peg the Malaysians back with a solid gameplay.

Shetty was a constant menace at the front court to close off any openings for Chia-Soh, while Rankireddy swept up nicely at the back as the world number six won the opener 21-17.

Like during the semi-finals, Chia-Soh needed to bring their offensive flair in the second game but they looked nervous with several service errors and return mistakes.

The world champions' best moment in the second game came when they saved four game points at 14-20, but it was too late as Shetty-Rankireddy eventually crossed the line as champions.

Chia-Soh would be left rueing another missed opportunity in a final, having finished second best four times in major finals they contested in since 2019.

For Chirag-Rankireddy, this Super 1000 victory marked the second time they defeated a Malaysian pair in a major final, after also denying Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi at the Asian Championships in April.

Other results saw China win in the mixed doubles and women’s singles at the Istora Senayan.

Top seeds Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong brushed aside Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino 21-14, 21-11, while Chen Yu Fei also won in straight games 21-18, 21-19 against Carolina Marin to claim the women’s singles crown.

In the women’s doubles, South Koreans Baek Ha-na-Lee Soo-hee reigned supreme over Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota 22-20, 21-10.

In the men's singles, Viktor Axelsen completed a consecutive hat-trick of titles in this tournament after the world number one easily outclassed Anthony Ginting 21-14, 21-13.

In doing so, the big Dane emulated the likes of Ardy Wiranata, Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei to win this prestigious event three consecutive times.