Lucknow, December 1: The Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand retained the women’s doubles title but Kidambi Srikanth’s hopes of ending his eight-year title drought were dashed as he suffered a defeat in the final of the Syed Modi International Super 300 here on Sunday.
Former champion Srikanth, a silver medallist at the 2021 World Championships, lost 16-21, 21-8, 20-22 to world number 59 Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong in a thrilling 67-minute contest. The 32-year-old last won the French Open in 2017 and came close to winning the title by finishing runner-up at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 earlier this year.
However, defending champions Treesa and Gayatri put on an attacking masterclass after trailing by a game and defeated world No. 35 Japanese pair of Kaho Osawa and Mai Tanabe 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 in a thrilling final that lasted an hour and 16 minutes.
Gayatri said, “We were prepared for a long match; we knew it would last at least an hour because our opponents were Japanese. The first set wasn’t that good, but we changed our strategy and played a lot of attacking rallies, and everything worked out.” Gayatri was playing only her second event since returning from a shoulder injury five months ago. “I haven’t played much in the last few months, so this tournament is a big boost for me for the upcoming season, so I’m very happy,” Gayatri said. She added that World Tour events in Malaysia and India are her next targets.
