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India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, suffered a first-round exit at the French Open after losing to French brothers Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov in Paris on Tuesday.
The Indian duo went down 19-21, 21-18, 13-21 in a hard-fought three-game encounter against the local favourites.
The Popov brothers made a strong start, racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening game against the Indian pair, who were champions at the tournament two years ago.
Satwik and Chirag fought back to take the second game 21-18 and force a decider, but the French pair regained control in the third game to seal victory and advance to the next round.
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