Defending champions Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stormed into the women’s doubles final with a straight-game win over Malaysia’s Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting at the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament here on Saturday.
Playing only their second event since Gayatri returned from a shoulder injury that had kept her out for five months, the Indian duo displayed sharp tactical awareness and excellent control of the conditions to notch a commanding 21-11, 21-15 victory over the world No. 33 Malaysian pair.
Treesa and Gayatri put up a dominant show in the opening game, pulling ahead from 8-7 to take an 11-7 lead at the interval. Maintaining a tight grip thereafter, they comfortably extended the advantage before sealing the game after their opponents committed two unforced errors.
After the change of ends, the Malaysians fought back strongly, matching the Indians point for point before Treesa and Gayatri edged ahead 11-10 at the break.
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The home pair then created vital separation at 17-14 and earned five match points when their rivals sent a shuttle long. A series of high tosses ended with Ting sending another shot long, handing the Indians the match.
Treesa and Gayatri will now look to defend their title when they step onto the court for the final against Japan's eighth seeds Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe on Sunday.
However, India’s women’s singles campaign came to an end in the semifinals, with both Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma suffering straight-game defeats.
Unnati went down 15-21, 10-21 to Turkey’s Neslihan Arın, while Tanvi, who had stunned former world champion Nozomi Okuhara earlier in the event, lost 17-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Hina Akechi.
Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Treesa bowed out with a 17-21, 19-21 loss to Indonesia’s Dejan Ferdinansyah and Bernadine Anindya Wardana.
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