Singapore – The rising Indian women’s doubles pair, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, knocked out the second-seeded South Koreans, Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee, to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open on Thursday. But for bad news, PV Sindhu, who is a double Olympic medallist, was again defeated by Carolina Marin, taking her loss record to the Spanish mayor since the year 2018.
Treesa and Gayatri, who were the Commonwealth Games bronze medallists, rose up to the challenge and fought off Baek and Lee 21-9, 14-21, 21-15 in a very intense match that lasted almost an hour.
It was the first time that the world number 30 Indian combination triumphed over their opponents in three attempts against the mighty Koreans. They will next play against another team from South Korea: Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong, a sixth-seeded team. The Indian pair was/delete beaten by Kim and Kong earlier in the pre-quarterfinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
Treesa and Gayatri seemed on a different level during the first game and led by 18-9, eventually winning the game 21-9. However, careless mistakes were committed, which enabled the Koreans to level the set and win the second game by 21-14.
Sitting at 8- all in the third game, both pairs both belted more potent smashes until the Indians took the advantage with a two-point margin in the middle of the third game interval. They pressed on with their hostile behavior and clinched the set by clinching the last six points, which gave them 16-9.
In the men’s singles, there was a tough contest between world no 10 HS Prannoy, seeded eighth, and Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto, ranked 11. He goes down 13-21, 21-14, 15-21 in 45 minutes and is now 4-2 down in his head-to-head record with the Japanese player.
In women’s singles, Sindhu was up against Marin for the very first time after the controversy-filled encounter in the Denmark Open semi-finals. However, the girl carried a good lead of 6 and 5 points successfully into the second and the third game and the match and ultimately lost by 21-13, 11-21, 20-22, and was on the court for one hour and eight minutes.
Currently, Sindhu is a runner-up in the Malaysia Masters program. She started it by beating Marin 21-11, but Marin came back and won a second match with a score of 21-19 to level the game and have the final set.
The last match was close, as Sindhu was leading at halftime, but Marin prolonged the match by putting pressure on Sindhu. Sindhu was able to spare one match point but erred in the final by choosing to play from the rear line; Marin increased her head-to-head record against the Indian to 12-17. Sindhu last beat Marin in the quarterfinal in the Malaysia Open held on 29. 06. 2018.
Talking about the hopes of the Indian badminton fans, Treesa and Gayatri are the only Indian pair still in the fight for a top-three finish as the Singapore Open unfolds.