Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look for a long-awaited first BWF title in over two years when they take on Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the Singapore Open 750 on Sunday.
The Indian fourth seeds reached the final after a sensational semifinal performance, where they handed the near-invincible world No 1 pair of Seo Seungjae and Kim Wonho a straight-games loss. They stunned the top seeds 21-19, 21-18 in one of they best badminton matches in a while, coming back from an early deficit to snap the South Koreans' 34-match winning streak. This was their first win over Seo-Kim, as well their first Singapore Open final.
Satwik-Chirag will have to keep the same level going against third seeds Alfian and Fikri, who have a superior 2-1 record against them and have won their last two meetings, including earlier this year.
The Indians have had a tough time in finals off late, losing the Thailand Open as top seeds two weeks back to another Indonesian pair, and had a slow start this tournament as well with unexpected three-game battles. But if how they recovered and won the semifinal is any indication, Satwik-Chirag are high on both confidence and the commanding play that had seen them big titles at their peak.
A day after passing one of the hardest obstacles in men's doubles - beating the world champion Seo-Kim - with flying colours, Satwik-Chirag have a golden opportunity to end their title drought in an emphatic fashion. And we will bring you all the action from the final in our live blog below: