Australian Open 2025: Satwik-Chirag pair reaches second round, Treesa-Gayatri duo knocked out

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of the Australian Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, in Sydney on Tuesday.

The top-seeded Indian duo defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ko-chi and Po Li-Wei 25-23, 21-16 in 48 minutes to set up a round of 16 clash with Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun, another pair from Chinese Taipei.

However, in women’s doubles, fourth-seeded Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand went down in straight games to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. The Indonesian won the match 21-10, 21-14 in 40 minutes. It was the first event for the Indians after three-and-a-half months.

World No. 3 Satwik and Chirag, who reached back-to-back finals at the Hong Kong Super 500 and China Masters Super 750, fell 2-6 behind early in the opening game, with the Taiwanese pair maintaining a slender lead until 16-14. The Indians turned the tables to go up 19-17, but the game went down to the wire thereafter.

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A sharp net shot after a fierce rally gave the Indians a game point, which the Taiwanese saved with a brutal smash. Chirag then missed a chance to give Ko-Chi and Li-Wei another game point, only for them to find the net.

Satwik’s error handed the Taiwanese their third game point, which the Indians promptly saved.

The Indians earned another game point when their opponents hit the net and finally converted as the Taiwanese faltered again at the net.

Satwik and Chirag opened up a 7-4 lead after the change of sides, but two net errors and a strong smash from the Taiwanese allowed them to catch up. The pairs split the next six points before an attempted smash went long, giving the Indians a one-point lead at the interval.

Satwik and Chirag maintained their momentum after the restart, stretching the advantage to 18-15, and closed out the match comfortably with two superb smashes.

India’s singles players such as Lakshya Sen, H. S. Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Ayush Shetty and others will start their campaign on Wednesday.

Published on Nov 18, 2025