Treesa-Gayatri enter second round

SYDNEY: Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the second round of the Australia Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a straight game win over Canada’s Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu on Tuesday.

Treesa and Gayatri, who climbed two spots to world number 17 in the latest BWF ranking on Tuesday, registered a 21-16, 21-17 win over world number 29 Canadian pair in the round of 32.

The Indian pair have not crossed the second round in any tournament apart from the semifinal finish at the All England Championships and the duo will face a tough task against world number 4 Japanese combination of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara.

Ashwini Ponnappa, who is playing the tournament after four years, didn’t have a good outing as she along with her women’s doubles partner Tanisha Crasto lost 11-21, 21-14, 17-21 to the Indonesian combination of Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi in the opening round.

Another women’s doubles combination of N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil also bowed out after losing 14-21, 17-21 to the Taiwanese pair of Hsu Yin-Hui and Lee Chih Chen in their opening match.