China Open 2023: Bagas/Fikri Silence Second Seed

Men's doubles Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/INSTAGRAM @b.maulana7

JAKARTA – Men's doubles Bagas Maulana/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri beat second seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty to qualify for the second round of the 2023 China Open.

The 2022 All England champions secured tickets for the second round after stopping the Indian representatives in the rubber game 21-17, 11-21, 21-17 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, China, Wednesday, September 6.

This is Bagas/Fikri's second successive win over Satwiksairaj/Chirag. Prior to these two wins, Bagas/Fikri had fallen three times.

Bagas/Fikri are the first Indonesian men's doubles to qualify for the second round. They have the chance to face fellow Indonesian representatives if Pramudya Kusumawardana/Yeremia Rambitan wins against Ayato Endo/Yuta Takei.

Previously, on the first day yesterday, Indonesia had lost two men's doubles, namely the first seeds Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

Unfortunately, the success of Bagas/Fikri could not be followed by Princess Kusuma Wardani's women's singles. She had to go home early after losing to second seed Japan, Akane Yamaguchi.

This is the second defeat suffered by Putri from two meetings with the former world number one. Previously, Putri lost at the Indonesia Open last June.

"Learning from the first meeting at the Indonesia Open yesterday, at that time I felt that only up to point 11 I could match him. After that I felt very tired. Today I am more ready to compete," said Putri.

"But so far I feel that my physical condition is improving, apart from that my playing pattern is slowly returning. And the most important thing is that my mind and mentality are getting better. Actually, I like to think about losing, but if the game is good, losing doesn't make me feel down," she added.

Women's defeat made Indonesia run out of representatives in the women's singles number. Previously, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who was the mainstay, had fallen earlier on Tuesday.