Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand has reached the semi-finals of the Singapore Open 2024 after defeating world number-6 South Korean pair Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong on Friday.
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While some Indian shuttlers were eliminated in the early rounds of the Singapore Open, some managed to leave their mark by pulling off shocking upsets. In which everyone's attention has been focused on the impressive performance of Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who have created a big upset by defeating the Olympic medallists pair 21-18, 21-9, 24-23 in the quarterfinals.
The Indian pair will now face either eighth-seeded Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia or fourth seeds Nami Matsuyama-Chihara Sida of Japan in the semi-finals on Saturday.
With this victory, the Indian pair will play their first semi-final of the BWF Super 750 tournament. Earlier, both had reached the semi-finals of the 2023 All-England Open, where they finished at third position.
Beat World No. 2 pair in the second round
Treesa-Gayatri is taking the badminton world by storm with their consistently good performances. Earlier, they pulled off a remarkable upset by defeating the world number two pair, Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea in the second round. This match was very close, in which Treesa-Gayatri won 21-9, 14-21, 21-15 in a match that lasted for almost an hour.
This match registered the first win of the Indian pair against the Korean pair, who were considered to be the strong contenders for the Singapore Open 2024.
Comeback after losing the first game
The match of Treesa and Gayatri was fierce; after the first 4 points in the first game, the Indian pair started lagging behind. Korea's Kim and Kong maintained their three-point lead. During this period, the Indian pair made many mistakes and did not get a chance to emerge. After that, the South Korean pair won the first game 21-18.
In the second game, Treesa-Gayatri adopted a different strategy. However, after leading 7-3, the Indian duo lost 5 consecutive points. After the first half, the Korean pair created pressure, but India made a comeback and leveled the match by winning the game 21-19.
The competition in the third game was fierce. Neither of them allowed the lead to increase more than 3. After losing two match points, Treesa-Gayatri won the game 24-22.
Sindhu and Prannoy bowed out a day earlier
A day earlier on Thursday, in men's singles, India's HS Prannoy lost to 11th-seeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 13-21, 21-14, 15-21 in a match that lasted 45 minutes. This was the Indian player's fourth defeat in six matches against the Japanese player.
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On the other hand, two-time Olympic champion PV Sindhu was eliminated after losing to Spain's Carolina Marin in the round of 16 match. There were many ups and downs in this match, the ace Indian shuttler won the first game, but later lost the match 21-11, 11-21, 20-22. This was Sindhu's sixth consecutive defeat at the hands of the Spanish player.