The leading Indian badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their second successive men’s doubles final with an impressive straight-game win over former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament here on Saturday.

Soon after winning a World Championships bronze and finishing runners-up at the Hong Kong Open last week, the Asian Games champions outclassed their long-time rivals Aaron and Soh 21-17 21-14 in a dominating performance.

Satwik and Chirag came into the match with a 4-11 head-to-head record against the Malaysian pair, who are two-time Olympic medallists. The Indians had also recently got the better of Aaron and Soh in the course of their bronze medal win at the World Championships in Paris.

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The Indians went all out in their attack right from the word go on Saturday, backed by a solid defence, while also dominating the front court as the Malaysians, particularly Aaron, looked out of sorts during the 41-minute semifinal clash.

The opening game was a close affair with both teams fighting for every point. Aaron and Soh got a 10-7 lead with four straight points, but three errors from Aaron, including a service fault, allowed Satwik and Chirag to bounce back. The Malaysians still held a slender one-point advantage at the interval.

At 14-13, Aaron faltered again at the net, giving the advantage again to the Indians. A flurry of smashes from Satwik and errors from their rivals took the Indians to 18-14. A sharp return from Satwik gave them four game points and they soon won the opener.

In the second game, Satwik and Chirag raced to a 5-2 lead after the change of ends with Satwik’s smashes and Chirag’s deft front-court play helping them stretch it to 8-2. Though the Malaysians narrowed the gap to 6-8, the Indians went into the interval with a 11-6 cushion.

Aaron and Soh reduced it to 9-11, but the Indians responded with another surge to make it 15-9. At 16-12, Satwik produced a thunderous smash followed by a lucky net cord, and the Malaysians lost their momentum. Chirag applied the finishing touches with a deep return and a decisive smash to seal the contest.