Jolly-Gopichand pair advance to second successive semis in All England Championships

Indian pair Treesa-Gayatri enter second successive semi-finals at prestigious All England Open after beating China’s Li-Liu 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 in Birmingham

Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand continued their impressive run, dishing out another superlative performance to advance to their second successive semi-finals at the All England Championships here on Friday. The World No. 17 Indian pair looked solid in their defence and relentless in attack, claiming 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 win over the newly-formed Chinese pair of Li Wen Mei and Liu Xuan Xuan in a 64-minute quarter-finals.

The only Indians in the fray, Gayatri and Treesa will face Korea’s Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee next. In the quarter-finals, Gayatri, 20, and Treesa, 19, were up against Li, who has been World No. 9 in the past, and Liu, a former World No. 16. Taking on the World No. 52 pair, the Indian pair displayed their aggressive intent right from the word go and moved to 6-2 early on. The Chinese pair clawed back at 6-6 but the Indian soon entered the mid-game interval with a healthy 11-8 advantage.

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Read the opposition well

Gayatri and Treesa got a measure of their opponent quickly and constructed the points well to move to 18-12 before taking the first game comfortably. The Indian pair kept a firm grip on the rallies to lead 5-1 and 10-6 at one stage after the change of sides but Li and Liu soon found their bearing and chipped away at the lead. Eventually, a couple of tight serves from Liu helped them cap five straight points and take a 11-10 lead.

It was a down-the-line smash from Gayatri that broke the run of points. Few flat exchanges ensued next with Treesa’s wild forehand landing out and Gayatri rushing onto a shot as the Chinese pair again grabbed the lead. Li and Liu tried to produce acute angles as Treesa found the net. A couple of errors from the Indians put the Chinese pair three points from levelling the scores. 

Li soon set up four game points with a precise on-the-line return. India saved two game points before Li unleashed a smash to take the match to the decider. In the third game, it was a one-way traffic as the Indian pair reeled off six points on the trot to gallop to 8-1.

Attacking strategy

The Chinese tried to slow down the pace but Treesa’s relentless attack from the back took the Indian pair to 11-4 at the midgame interval. The chinese couldn’t sustain the pressure as Treesa unleashed a booming smash to reach 18-10. Another smash from Gayatri set up a massive eight match point advantage and the Indian pair sealed it when the Chinese pair went long.

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