The Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued their giant killing spree at the 2024 Singapore Badminton Open Super 750 as they took down world No 6 Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Treesa-Gayatri, ranked 30th in the world, came from a game down to prevail 18-21, 21-19, 24-22 against the South Koreans in a thriller to move into their first-ever Super 750 semi-final.
“There was no strategy as such,” quipped Gayatri post their win. “We just wanted to give our 100% and have fun on the court.”
This victory over the sixth seeds comes just a day after Treesa-Gayatri shocked world No 2 Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
The Indians looked down and out for a majority of the contest. They had conceded the first game 18-21 and trailed 12-18 in the second before scripting a stellar turnaround.
They won five points in a row to reduce the deficit to one point at 17-18, before levelling up at 19-19. With the momentum on their side, they won the next two points of the contest as well to force a decider.
“We were down in the second set but we fought back,” said Gayatri. “There is always a lot of pressure and I think we managed to handle it well this time.
“We were confident that we could pull off this match,” she added.
Having forced a decider against the run of play, Treesa-Gayatri asserted dominance early on in the third game. Despite playing from the unfavourable side of the court, they managed to open up a slender 11-9 lead before the final change of ends.
They mixed up their shots and were unafraid of longer rallies, staying patient to win points.
“After a long time we are playing good matches with seeded players,” a relieved Treesa opined. “We did not make any easy errors. We fought in every rally, did not give up.
“Today both our attacks and net play worked well,” she added.
The 11-9 lead turned into a match point at 20-19, before the Kim and Kong equalised, thanks to a shot wide of the sidelines from Gayatri, looking for a cheeky angle.
The Indian duo had match points at two more times later, leading 21-20 and 22-21, but it was the fourth one which they converted with Gayatri rushing to the net and slamming the shuttle straight into the face of her opponent.
“Usually when we are leading 20-18, I think a lot about what I need to do on court after winning,” said Treesa.
“This time I told myself no win or nothing…just focus on the match, anything can happen. Just play,” she chuckled.
Treesa-Gayatri will now face either fourth seeds Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida or eight seeds Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the semi-finals on Saturday.
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