Treesa-Gayatri advance at US Open; Rounak Chouhan enters main draw

Indian badminton stars Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand entered the second round of the US Open Super 300 with a three-game win over Spain's Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Rounak Chouhan qualified for the men's main draw

Fullerton (US): Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the second round of the US Open Super 300 badminton tournament after overcoming Spain’s Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez in a three-game battle here.

Making her return after an ankle injury layoff, Treesa, partnering Gayatri, defeated the Spanish combination 21-12 14-21 21-13 in a 51-minute opening-round contest.

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The Indian duo will next take on Japan’s Sumire Nakade and Miyu Takahashi.

In the men’s singles qualifiers, Rounak Chouhan secured his place in the main draw with two victories. He first beat France’s Enogat Roy 21-19 21-16 before rallying past Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Kuan Lin 13-21 21-14 21-10.

Chouhan will now face fellow Indian S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian in the opening round.

Treesa and Gayatri started strongly, racing to an 8-3 lead in the opening game. Although the Spaniards narrowed the gap with a four-point burst, the Indians regained control, moving to 17-11 before comfortably taking the game.

Paula and Lucia responded well in the second game, opening up an 11-7 advantage at the interval and maintaining their edge despite a late challenge from the Indians to force a decider.

The Indian pair regained the initiative in the third game, establishing an 11-6 lead at the mid-game break. They maintained the momentum thereafter and closed out the match without much trouble.

Fifth-seeded Kidambi Srikanth is set to face compatriot Saneeth Dayanand in the men’s singles draw.

India will also have a sizeable presence in women’s singles, with Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Anmol Kharb, Devika Sihag, Tanya Hemanth, Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanvi Sharma featuring in the competition.