All England Open 2023, QFs blog: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continue superb run to reach SF

That will be all for this blog, join us on Saturday for the semifinal coverage.

“Treesa and Gayatri are brilliant and have been playing every game with maturity. The amount of composure they show, even in the most crunch situations, is applaudable. This is their second consecutive semi-final at All England and I hope they continue their impressive run and win the prestigious title,” said Sanjay Mishra, General Secretary of Badminton Association of India.

— via BAI

The Indians react to their win today via BWF:

Treesa Jolly: “Last time the excitement was so high. We hadn’t even qualified, we were in the reserves list. We wanted to play the All England at least once. But this time we knew we’d get an entry for this tournament, and we’d prepared well. Last year we just couldn’t sleep as we were so excited. But this time feels normal.”

Gayatri Gopichand: “We’re confident that we’re as good as any of the top pairs, definitely. We’re going to give our 100 per cent no matter what, and we’re going to keep fighting till the end. Let’s see what happens.”

— via BWF

Women’s doubles: Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will be the higher-ranked pair on paper for the semifinal tomorrow again, and again it won’t be straightforward. Lee So Hee, as we mentioned already is a former world No 2 and has been around forever. Baek Ha Na is a former top 10 too. And the two of them have reached TWO finals already this season on the BWF World Tour, winning the title last week at German Open.

Women’s doubles: Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will face Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee in the semifinals in what could well be a gruelling battle on Saturday.

Women’s doubles QF: A marathon win for Baek/Lee and they will face Gayatri/Treesa in the semifinals tomorrow. Lee So Hee was one half of the world No 2 pair that the Indians defeated last year in the quarterfinals.

Women’s doubles QF: 92-shot rally now and not even among the top two rallies in terms of length in this match

Women’s doubles QF: Rahayu-Ramadhanti have taken the match into the decider.

Women’s doubles QF: Koreans have taken the lead.

Women’s doubles QF: Gayatri-Treesa will take on the winner of this match on Court 1 now.

Shuttle Zone by Shlok: Why he picked Gayatri-Treesa to shine

What works for them: Treesa and Gayatri complement each other perfectly. It’s a song of ice and fire. Treesa is the fire and takes the game to the opponents whereas Gayatri is the ice and is the player who turns up when the chips are down. Treesa has the power to hit through the pairs whereas Gayatri has remarkable soft hands and court awareness which help her find gaps. But what makes them truly stand out is that they do not fear playing the big names on tour and it’s just a matter of time before they will have better results in the big tournaments.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 Li / Liu: Scores corrected. Here’s a look at how the third-game unfolded.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 Li / Liu: BACK IN THE SEMIFINALS! Treesa-Gayatri’s love affair with All England continues.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 19-12 Li / Liu: “Embrace it, enjoy it” say Boe with the Indians leading 19-12.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 18-9 Li / Liu: Jolly with a smash and the finish line is in sight.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 17-9 Li / Liu: Gayatri, wow. Terrific touch winner from her at the net. The Chinese are not able to pick up more than a point here or there.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 14-8 Li / Liu: Wow. Great defence from Gayatri, repeatedly finding ways to keep the shuttle in play but the 29-shot exchange goes in the way of Li-Liu.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 14-7 Li / Liu: Treesa with some finesse from the backcourt. Gayatri with some finesse at the front court. Good run again.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 11-4 Li / Liu: Jolly’s smash too hot for Li to handle, the lift sails long. A big lead for the Indians at the final change of ends. Can they close this out?

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 10-4 Li / Liu: Li with a superb smash from the backcourt. That is followed by a really good 1-2 from them on serve.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 8-2 Li / Liu: Needless to say, Chinese pair will keep fighting back. The run of points ends at 7. Body smash from Liu.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 8-1 Li / Liu: This is a dream start for the Indians. Wow.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 5-1 Li / Liu: That is a magical drop shot from Treesa... all pace, pace, pace and boom, drop it like it’s hot by Jolly.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21, 4-1 Li / Liu: There is the attack on Liu as Boe wanted. Good start to the decider by the Indians.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-21 Li / Liu: Never write off the Chinese. We have a decider. “Target the one not wearing the headband (Liu),” is actually handy advice from Boe. Keeping it simple, instead of mistaking identities.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 18-20 Li / Liu: Fabulous placement from Gayatri. A second game point saved.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 17-20 Li / Liu: Finally, a proactive point by Indians after a while from the Indians. One game point saved.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 16-20 Li / Liu: Four game points for the CHN pair.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 16-19 Li / Liu: Liu with a brilliant flick of wrists from the forecourt and that is a huge point.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 16-18 Li / Liu: Terrific dodging from Gayatri! Matrix level. And the shuttle goes long. Can the Indians put together a run here? But Treesa makes a service error. Oh dear.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 15-17 Li / Liu: Things are changing. The Indians are a bit flat at the moment. “Move your feet” can be heard from Boe.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 15-16 Li / Liu: What a miss there. Jolly gets too eager at the net and sends one wild. And soon enough, the Chinese pair are in the lead! Game on.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 14-12 Li / Liu: What a point. Brilliant 1-2 punch from the Indians.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 13-12 Li / Liu: Women’s doubles is largely about longer rallies, but this has been like a men’s doubles match with both pairs going for aggressive shots early in the rally. A lovely rally this time, and Boe chimes in “really really good!”

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 10-11 Li / Liu: Well, well. At 10-6, it looked like the Indians were in control. But Liu/Li with a run of FIVE Straight points to take a lead into the interval. Not over, this one. Li with a lovely flick serve there.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 10-10 Li / Liu: And we are level again.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 10-9 Li / Liu: A rare point where the Indians are under defensive pressure. And again. Gayatri thought about going away mid-rally for a racket change but decides against it. The Indians drop that point too.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 10-6 Li / Liu: And even when there is a little bit of miscommunication, they recover quickly. We have already seen that in the tournament. Gayatri is late to a shot but they recover and get the point.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 8-6 Li / Liu: A higher-than-ideal lift from Jolly is punished but the Indians get the serve back and Jolly makes no mistake with the kill at the net.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 6-5 Li / Liu: Glorious service return winner from Jolly.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 5-5 Li / Liu: Good review by the Chinese pair, but how was that called in? Well long from the Indians. And just like that, the Chinese pair are level.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 5-3 Li / Liu: Treesa’s cheers have been loud and this is the first time we are hearing serious vocal aggression from the Chinese duo, they need something here.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14, 3-1 Li / Liu: Gayatri with a couple of winners from the net and the Indians have started the second game well too.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 21-14 Li / Liu: Another rally where the Indians didn’t mind switching up and this time is Gayatri with a smash from the backcourt that sets up the opening game for them. Indians take the opening game 21-14. Key message from Boe has been “keep it simple”. This has been great from the Indians.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 20-14 Li / Liu: Seven game points for the Indians, one saved.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 19-13 Li / Liu: There is even appreciation mid-game from Boe that is audible as Treesa pulls off a couple of wonderful points.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 16-12 Li / Liu: Great service return from Gayatri and Treesa applies the finishing touch. Jolly then with a net cord play to reestablish a 4-point lead.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 14-12 Li / Liu: Lovely attacking play again by Gayatri at the front-court and Treesa backs her up bit the Indians give the serve back with a service error from GG. The gap is closing again.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 13-9 Li / Liu: Couldn’t hear what Boe or Arun had to say but I imagine it will be reinforcing what they have done so far.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 11-8 Li / Liu: Lucky net cord for the Chinese pair but the Indians get the serve back thanks to Treesa’s pressure. A return error from Li means the Indian youngsters have a decent lead at the interval.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 8-7 Li / Liu: Just to quantify what was said on air, the Indians do have a problem against Chinese pairs. Out of four meetings versus Chinese pairs, they have lost three. Their one came recently at the Asian Mixed Team C’ships in Dubai.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 6-6 Li / Liu: Just like that, we are level again.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 6-4 Li / Liu: Good mix of patience and aggression so far from the Indians. They go into a 6-2 lead. Oh what a rally after that. Treesa does so well defensively to stay alive in the rally but then rushes the kill. “Simple, simple,” you could hear from Mathias Boe in the background.

WD QF, Gayatri / Treesa 2-0 Li / Liu: The Indians will serve first and this will be a different battle to the one we saw yesterday. Chinese WD style is more attacking and it is something that the Indian pair has struggled with in the past.

Women’s doubles QF, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly vs Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan: The Chinese are ranked 52 in the world but they are a new pairing and are already climbing up the rankings. Li is a former top 10 player while Liu is former top 20 with their earlier partners.

Women’s doubles draw: Here’s how things look.

Can TreeTri (we are going with this moniker for now) extend their dream run at All England? After stunning the 7th seeds in the opening round, they defeated the former world No 1 and former champs Fukushima/Hirotra.

Hello all and welcome to our badminton live coverage. It’s quarterfinals day at one of the biggest events of the year. And for the second straight year, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly have impressed at the All England Open, one of badminton’s most prestigious events.

The young Indian doubles pairing made their breakthrough last year at All England, reaching the semifinals after being promoted to the main draw. This year they are at it again, with two HUGE wins already in the first two rounds. They take on China’s Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan, in what will be the first meeting.

Unfortunately, for Indian badminton fans, they are the last representatives left at the event. The wait for a singles title drought since 2001 will continue as the likes of Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Srikanth Kidambi and PV Sindhu have already lost. Also suffering an early exit was Satwik-Chirag, albeit after a stunning men’s doubles round of 16 match.

Screenshots in the blog via BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software