Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the 2024 BWF French Open in style, beating Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 21-11, 21-17 in just 36 minutes.
This is Sat-Chi's first title of the calendar year, after having lost two finals at the Malaysia Masters and the India Open, and their second BWF French Open 750 title.
In Paris, Sat-Chi started the match with the easy authority of a world no. 1 team taking on a world no. 17 one. It was close initially as early errors dominated proceedings, both teams calibrating their radars... but after Sat-Chi took their first lead of the final at 4-3, there was no looking back.4-3 quickly became 8-4 and then 11-5 as Satwik's thunderous smashes and Chirag's wonderful ability to turn defence into attack came to the fore. They then motored along, without undue effort, to a 15-8 lead that soon became 18-10 and then 21-11. The opening game was an exercise in the world's best showing off just why they are ranked where they are.
The second game, though, showed just what Lee-Yang are capable of. In the form of their lives right now, they came into the final on the back of a German Open win and beating world no.9 Fikri-Maulana, world no. 3 Liang-Wang and world no. 7 Alfian-Ardianto here in Paris. They showcased intent from the start, not letting Sat-Chi pull away and went into the break 11-9 up on the back of some superb smashing from the forecourt. They then pulled away into a 13-11 lead, only for Sat-Chi to find higher gears, gears well out of reach of their opponents.
They went on a run of five out of six points to lead 16-14 before pulling away to 19-15 and then -16. One match was saved, but neither Lee nor Yang could do anything about the next as a Chirag smash sealed the deal for the Indians.
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