NEW DELHI:
Treesa Jolly
and
Gayatri Gopichand
's impressive journey at the
Singapore Open
concluded with a straight-game loss to the World No. 4 pair,
Nami Matsuyama
and
Chiharu Shida
, in the semifinals on Saturday. This defeat also marked the end of India's campaign at the
BWF World Tour Super 750
.
Despite their hopes for a hat-trick of wins against top-10 players, the unseeded Indian duo couldn't match the prowess of the Japanese pair, who secured a comfortable 23-21, 21-11 victory in just 47 minutes.
The Japanese pair avenged their semifinal defeat against
Treesa
and
Gayatri
at the Asia Team Championship in February. They now lead the head-to-head series 3-1 against the Indian World No. 30 duo.
Treesa and Gayatri, Commonwealth Games bronze medalists, had their moments in the first game, battling back from a 5-10 deficit to tie it at 16-16. However, Matsuyama and Shida continued to dominate, reaching game point at 20-18. The Indians fought back, saving two game points to level the score.
The Japanese pair again went ahead, but Treesa and Gayatri saved another game point to make it 21-21 before Nami and Chiharu secured a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second game was one-sided, with the Japanese racing to a 20-6 lead before allowing the Indians a brief comeback. The gap was too large to overcome, and Matsuyama and Shida secured their spot in the final.
Earlier in the tournament, the Indian duo had eliminated World No. 2 Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee in the pre-quarters and World No. 6 Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Young in the quarters.
(Inputs from PTI)
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