Third time lucky as Satwik-Chirag fight back to win maiden China Masters crown

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty finally ended their China Masters jinx Sunday, staging a stirring comeback from a game down to defeat home favourites He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu and capture their maiden Super 750 crown at the tournament.

Playing their third China Masters final after finishing runners-up in 2023 and 2025, the world No. 5 Indian pair recovered from a one-sided opening game to prevail 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 in a gripping contest lasting one hour and 10 minutes.

The triumph gave Satwik and Chirag their second title of the 2026 season following their Singapore Open Super 750 victory. They had also reached the Thailand Open Super 500 final earlier this year. It was their 10th BWF World Tour title and provided a major boost ahead of their Asian Games title defence in Japan later this month.

Chinese pair dominates early

He and Ren made a blistering start, racing to a 5-0 lead as their fast, aggressive exchanges repeatedly pushed the Indians onto the defensive. The Chinese pair maintained pressure with tight serves, flat returns and powerful attacks, while Satwik and Chirag struggled to establish their rhythm.

The deficit widened to 7-14 before He continued to punch holes through the Indian defence with a series of smashes. A service fault from Chirag compounded their problems as the Chinese moved to 17-9 before comfortably taking the opening game 21-11.

The Indians responded by changing the nature of the contest in the second game. They tightened their defence, extended the rallies and prevented He and Ren from dominating the front court. Satwik also mixed up his serving to disrupt the Chinese pair’s attacking rhythm.

From 4-6 down, Satwik and Chirag reeled off five consecutive points to take control. A gruelling 45-shot rally went their way as they stretched the advantage before closing out the second game 21-13 and forcing a decider.

Comeback seals elusive crown

He and Ren again started quickly in the third game, opening up a 4-0 advantage and later leading 7-3. But the Indians refused to let the contest slip away, winning four consecutive points to draw level at 7-7.

The Chinese pair held a narrow advantage at the interval and moved 15-13 ahead, but Satwik and Chirag remained within striking distance. They eventually levelled at 16-16 as the pressure mounted on both sides.

With the score locked at 17-17, the Indians seized control at the decisive moment. An error from He put them ahead before a fortunate net cord helped create three championship points.

Chirag needed only one. His smash down the middle sealed the decider 21-17, triggering celebrations as the Indians finally claimed the title that had twice slipped from their grasp.

The victory also extended Satwik and Chirag’s unbeaten head-to-head record against He and Ren to 3-0 and continued a strong run of form ahead of the Asian Games, where the Indian pair will attempt to defend the men’s doubles gold they won in 2023.