BWF World Tour Finals: Treesa and Gayatri register their first win

Indian women's doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secured their first victory at the 2024 BWF World Tour Finals, defeating Malaysia's Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan on Thursday.

With both teams coming to this fixtures on the back of a defeat, a loss today would have meant elimination and the Indians responded brilliantly, claiming victory in straight games (21-19, 21-19).

This is just the second win for Treesa and Gayatri against Tan and Thinaah in eight encounters, and it couldn't have come at a better time for them.

The Malaysian pair now stands eliminated from the competition, and if Treesa/Gayatri go on to win their last group stage fixture against Japan's Matsuyama and Shida, they will qualify for the next round.

The Indians started on a high note, racing to a 6-2 lead in game one but the Malaysians pulled things back and headed into the break with an 11-10 lead.

After the break, the Indians switched gears and started edging ahead but the Malaysians kept up with them, thanks to a couple of loose service net points gifted by the Indians.

But Treesa and Gayatri did not let the nerves take over as they created a three game point advantage at 20-17, and eventually won the game 21-19, taking an all-important 1-0 lead.

The second game was fought much more closely, and there was no pattern to the gameplay, with both teams going for an all-out attack, and long rallies became a sight to savor in this game.

Like the first game, the Malaysians led 11-10 at the break, and much like the first game, the Indians resumed strongly after the break.

At 19-19, it was anyone's game but Treesa and Gayatri kept it together and won the following two points, winning the match 2-0.

This victory should give them a lot of confidence after their heartbreaking defeat yesterday to the Chinese Tan and Liu.