Gayatri-Treesa reach Kumamoto Masters pre-quarterfinals with straight-game win

The Indian women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly progressed to the pre-quarterfinals with a straight-game win over home favourites Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita in the opening round of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 badminton tournament here on Tuesday.

The Indian combination, which won a bronze at this year's BWF World Championships in New Delhi, prevailed 21-17, 21-14 in 42 minutes in a round-of-32 clash.

It was, however, curtains for the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma, who went down 16-21, 15-21 to the second-seeded American pair of Chen Zhi Yi and Francesca Corbett in the opening round of qualifying.

The men's doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun made it to the next round after their round-of-32 opponents, Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, retired hurt just six minutes into the match.

The Indians were leading 11-6 in the opening game when the Malaysian pair withdrew.

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