Macau Open: Treesa-Gayatri will be in action in women’s doubles semifinals today

Macau [China], September 28 (ANI): In the semifinals of the Macau Open women’s doubles competition, the Indian doubles pair of Commonwealth Games medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will be in action on Saturday.

In the semifinals, Treesa and Gayatri will be playing against Chinese Taipei pair Hung En-Tzu and Hsieh Pei Shan, ranked 54th in the world.

On Friday, the world number 23 ranked duo, seeded third in the competition, secured a win over sixth-seeded Hsu Yin-Hui and Lin Jhih Yun in 39 minutes by 21-12, 21-17 in two straight games.

The Indian pair made a slow start as they trailed 1-3, but by the middle of the first game, they were leading by 11-7. From that point on, they did not look back and won the first game comfortably.

In the second game, Gayatri and Treesa were fighting well, but still trailing by 9-11 at the halfway mark. However, after the Indian pair levelled the scores 14-14, they never missed a point and won the game and match easily.

It was Treesa and Gayatri’s second win over Hsu Yin-Hui and Lin Jhih Yun in two matches, making it a clean sweep so far.

Though the Indian duo made it to the semifinals of the Singapore Open this year in June, they are yet to win a trophy this year.

On the other hand, Kidambi Srikanth, returning to the sport after an injury during Singapore Open back in May, crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Macau Open, losing to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long 21-16, 21-12.

The World number 38 Indian, also a World Championships silver medalist, struggled in the first game as Angus led by 1-6. However, Kidambi fought back to make it 15-15, but losing four successive points pushed him on the back foot once again and he never recovered from it.

It was Kidambi’s fifth loss to Angus in nine matches. They had earlier met in the Malaysia Open this year in which Angus secured a win in two straight matches.

Kidambi, the former world number one, made it to the semis of the Swiss Open this year in March but has failed to make it beyond the pre-quarterfinals on nine occasions this year.

The Macau Open will be played till Sunday.