Malaysia Open: Indian pair and Shi Yu Qi steal the show after Axelsen upset

The Malaysia Open semi-finals turned out a thrilling affair courtesy of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty’s mighty comeback, and after that defending champion Viktor Axelsen was sent packing.

Rankireddy-Shetty beat South Koreans Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae 21-18, 22-20, but it was the second game which lifted the crowd at the Axiata Arena as the Indians mounted the comeback from 14-20 down.

With Shetty holding serve and Rankireddy ready to pounce at the back court, the world number two pair applied the pressure against their world champions opponents who could not find the single point needed.

In the end, Rankireddy-Shetty fired home eight consecutive points to book their first Malaysia Open final.

“From 2014 we knew it would be an uphill task to get the win, so we didn’t really think about anything but to focus on one point at a time. We are really looking forward to tomorrow’s match,” said the pair, who will face world number one pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in the final.

In the men’s singles, world number one Axelsen failed in his attempt to hunt down a third consecutive Malaysia Open title after he lost 12-21, 21-19, 17-21 against China’s Shi Yu Qi.

Axelsen made a sluggish start to concede the first game, but he returned more fired-up and battled hard to win the second game to take the game to a decider.

But the Dane had hurt his knee in the second game which affected him, and coupled with Shi’s brilliant net-play, the upset was secured.

Shi will go on to face another Dane Anders Antonsen who overcame Lin Chun-yi in the other semis.

The women’s singles final will witness top seeded An Se-young taking on Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying, while it will be an all Chinese women’s doubles final between Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning and Zhang Shu Xian-Zheng Yu.

The mixed doubles will pit Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (South Korea) versus second seeded Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino.