The dream run of the of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand came to screeching halt in the semifinal of the women's doubles of the Singapore Open 2024 on Saturday as the duo went down against the world No 4 Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida. (More Badminton News)
The Indian pair started well to lose a close first game but totally faltered in the second game to bow out from the competition.
The final scoreline read 23-21, 21-11 in the favour of the Japanese duo.
The Japanese fourth-ranked pair pushed the Indian duo on the backfoot early on racing away with an 8-2 lead. Treesa-Gayatri then kept chipping in with points to finally close the lead at 16-16.
The game went deep from there on as the Indians never let the Japanese pair get ahead. Eventually Matsuyama and Shida won the first game 23-21.
While the Indians kept the world No 4 pair under pressure in the first game, in the second, they totally faltered.
The Treesa-Gayatri duo consistently found the net and looked far away from their best. The Japanese pair took advantage of the number of unforced errors that the Indians did and ran away with the game and the match.
Trailing 13-2 at one point, the Indian pair looked like coming back to form but it was too late till then. They saved five match points to delay their exit but eventually lost 21-11.
The loss marked the end of the dream run of the duo that was playing its first semifinal in a Super 750 Event. The Indian pair defeated top ranked players of the world in back-to-back matches to land in the final four.
In their second round match, they shocked the world no.2 Korean pair Baek Ha Na and Korlee So Hee and followed it by upsetting fourth-ranked pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in the quarterfinals.
The winning Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida will now take on the top ranked Chinese pair of Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan in the title clash on Sunday.
The loss ends Indian challenge in the Singapore Open with the big guns already out early in the tournament.
