Singapore open: Wait goes on for Sindhu as Treesa-Gayatri cause huge upset

Singapore, May 30

PV Sindhu suffered yet another setback against Carolina Marin, but the rising Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned world No. 2 Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea to enter the quarterfinals at the Singapore Open here today.

Sindhu blew away an 18-15 lead in the decider to go down to familiar rival Marin in a thrilling 21-13 11-21 20-22 women’s singles last-16 match. It was Sindhu’s sixth loss on the trot against her arch-rival, stretching back to 2018.

But Treesa and Gayatri kept the Indian flag flying by eliminating Baek and Lee 21-9 14-21 21-15 in an hour and eight minutes.

6 Sindhu lost to Crolina Marin again. It was the Indian’s sixth loss on the trot against her arch-rival, stretching back to 2018

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This was the world No. 30 Indian duo’s maiden win from three meetings against the world No. 2 Korean pair.

They will be up against another South Korean pair — sixth seed Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong — in the quarterfinals of the Super 750 event.

The Indian duo had lost to the Korean pair at the Hangzhou Asian Games pre-quarterfinals last year.

The Baek-Lee duo was error-prone as Treesa and Gayatri held a commanding 18-9 lead before taking the opening game without much fuss.

But the Indians allowed the South Koreans to bounce back, committing unforced errors in the second game as the match went to the third game.

The rival pairs exchanged some powerful smashes and were locked 8-all before the Indians took a slender two-point lead at the final mid-game break.

They continued to play with aggression and reeled off six consecutive points to make it 16-9 and seal a memorable win.

In the men’s singles, eighth seed HS Prannoy lost to world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 13-21 21-14 15-21 in a 45-minute match. This was the world No. 10 Indian’s fourth defeat to the Japanese from six matches.