Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand rallied well after losing the first game to defeat So Yeong Kim and Hee Yong Kong of South Korea 18-21, 21-19, 24-22 in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open BWF Super-750 tournament on Friday.
In fact, the Indians were three points from defeat as they trailed 12-18 in the second. But they showed great grit to win five straight points to make it 17-18. Gayatri won four of the five points with a couple of smashes, a drop and a flick. From 17-19, Treesa Gayatri had few problems.
The decider was closely-fought. At 22-22, Gayatri's smash from the back court landed in the middle of court to make it 23-22. Gayatri secured the winning point with a smash into Kim's cheek.
"It was a great win, we're happy. We were down in the second game but fought back well. There was no strategy. We just wanted to give our 100%. They are tough p layers, they don't give anything easy," Gayatri said. Treesa, who did some great work from the back court, was is happy with the win over fancied opponents. "After a long gap, we're playing well against seeded players. We focused on not making any mistakes during rallies. Our netplay was good and our smashes fetched key points," Treesa said.
The Indian duo will play Chiharu Shida and Nami Matsuyama. The Japanese fourth seeds have 2-1 win-loss record against the Indians.
