India’s hopes of ending their Singapore Open doubles drought suffered a blow following the ouster of top-seeded men’s pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty.

“We never really got going,” conceded Rankireddy after the shock 22-20 21-18 loss to world No.34 Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard on Tuesday. “We should have finished it off when we were leading the first game 20-18. Made some unforced errors and never recovered.”

Rankireddy/Shetty’s debut appearance in the main draw came in 2018 – the only time they cleared the first round. They returned after five years in 2023 but fell to Akira Koga/Taichi Saito in the opener.

Shetty said: “It’s always tough here, we’ve never played good matches.

“We could have done better, a point here and a point there could have changed the rhythm. But kudos to them, they kept at it. Now we go back, forget this and prepare for the next tournament.”

Vestergaard believes their pre-match prep was key in securing victory.

“A lot of things went right, we had a solid game plan with our coach and followed it very well and were strict about the things we spoke about,” said the 22-year-old.

“We had a tough time in Thailand and Malaysia so this is just an amazing feeling. A very good win.”

India’s three titles have come only in singles events. Their doubles aspirations now rest on seven unseeded pairs, including the Paris 2024 Olympic Games-bound Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa.

→ Results (Day 1)

→ Order of play (Day 2)

WHAT OTHERS SAID:

“The Olympics is an important goal but each event on the calendar counts. The 2024 edition of the Singapore Open won’t come around again. So, I want to focus on each tournament, I don’t want all my efforts to be only towards the Olympics.” – Women’s singles defending champion An Se Young

“I chose the faster side. It was harder to play, I was hoping to win and make the second game smoother, but unfortunately I lost the first.” – Home star Loh Kean Yew on having to overcome Lu Guang Zu from a game down