Indian women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were involved in the longest match of the ongoing India Open Super 750 tournament on Thursday. The round of 16 clash between the Indian pair and world number eight Chinese duo of Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min lasted 84 minutes, with all three games going beyond the usual 21-point mark.
After the gruelling 84 minutes, the Chinese pair came out on top, winning 20-22, 24-22, 23-21, leaving the Indian fans and shuttlers frustrated alike. The Indian pair did everything right from the start of the match but failed to close it in the last moments, a pattern that has been persistent with their results.
“I think it was a good game overall. We have played and defeated them before. We were leading 19-15 in the second game, but sometimes it just doesn’t work,” a disappointed Gayatri said after the loss.
Gayatri was impeccable on the net while Treesa flexed her muscles with powerful smashes in the first game. However, the Chinese pair troubled the Indians by exploiting the gaps left on either side of the court. The Chinese pair saved a game point, making it 20-20, but the Indian duo held on to win the first game 22-20.
Three net errors from the Chinese duo and a smash from Gayatri helped the Indian pair start the second game with a 4-1 lead. Both pairs made mistakes on the net in the second game before the Indian duo pulled ahead to lead 19-15.
What followed was a script often seen. The Indian pair erred twice on net and sent three shots wide to concede a match point. They saved one of them and then had the match in their grasp. But a superb smash from Luo and a couple of mistakes from Gayatri meant that the match went into the decider.
The decider was another roller-coaster as the Indian duo maintained a consistent lead till 12-8. Li and Luo won six straight points after that to make it 14-12 in their favour. Then, Treesa and Gayatri won a marathon point that involved 103 shots, making it 13-14. It looked like the turning point of the match but the Indian duo again failed to close in the last moments and lost the game 21-23.
Story continues below this ad
“Playing against the top ten in the world is a tough thing. They always get back into the game. We have to be ready for those moments,” said Gayatri about the match.
The Indian duo is ranked 21 in the world right now and in a packed calendar ahead, the duo needs to win such crucial moments in order to move up in the world rankings.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
