Treesa and Gayatri secure spots in pre-quarters

Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced a solid performance to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships with a straight-game win over Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. World number 19 Gayatri and Treesa, who reached the semi-finals of the All England Championships in the last two editions, beat Chang and Yang, ranked 37th, 21-18 21-10 in 38 minutes. The Commonwealth Games bronze winners, who had received a bye in the first round, will face an uphill task against top seed Chinese Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan in their next round. Treesa and Gayatri lagged 2-5 early on but soon started rotating the strike and extending the rallies to draw out errors from their opponent to turn it around, reaching 8-6. Chang and Yang clawed back at 8-8 but the Indian pair managed an 11-9 lead at the break with the Taiwanese duo spraying the net thrice.
Gayatri stepped up after the resumption, showing great anticipation at the front court as India led 14-11. Treesa committed a few errors but the Indian duo still managed to keep its nose ahead, despite the fighting Taiwanese pair. A service error from Chang and Yang gave the Indian pair four game points.