New Delhi, Mar 17 National champions Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela underlined their growing stature in world badminton as they reached their second successive women’s doubles semifinal at the All England Open in Birmingham on Friday.
The world No. 17 Indian combination put behind a close second game loss before packing off China’s Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 in an hour and four minutes to reach the last four stage.
"Treesa and Gayatri are brilliant and have been playing every game with maturity. The amount of composure they show, even in the most crunch situations, is applaudable. This is their second consecutive semi-final at All England and I hope they continue their impressive run and win the prestigious title," said Sanjay Mishra, General Secretary of Badminton Association of India.
Treesa and Gayatri, who had upset two experienced pairs to reach the quarters, once again began with an aggressive approach and opened a 6-2 lead before their Chinese opponents found their rhythm. But that hardly deterred the Indians, who controlled the game brilliantly to draw first blood.
It looked like they could run away with the match after opening a 10-6 lead but Chinese won five straight points to go into the break with an one point advantage before forcing a decider with a late flourish.
But instead of getting overwhelmed the young Indians looked more determined in the decider with Treesa raining smashes and Gayatri dominating the net to race to 8-1 lead. They then kept their nerves to wrap up the match without any hiccups.
The duo will now face Korean pair Baek Na Ha/Lee So Hee in the semifinals on Saturday.
UNI RKM