Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand enter quarterfinals, Kidambi Srikanth's valiant effort goes in vain

The Indian women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament after a straight-game win over fifth-seeded Indonesian duo of Rachel Allessya and Rose Febi Setianingrum in Odense on Thursday.

Treesa and Gayatri, who won their maiden World Championships bronze in New Delhi in August, defeated the Indonesian pair 21-16, 21-17 in 45 minutes.

The Indian duo will next face the winners between Hong Kong's Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam and the second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

Ashmita Chaliha lost to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 18-21, 10-21 in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals. Tanvi Sharma will take on Germany's Yvonne Li later in the day.

Earlier, Kidambi Srikanth showed glimpses of his old self before going down to the reigning world champion Alex Lanier in a three-game pre-quarterfinal match.

Nine years after his breakthrough 2017 season when he won four titles, the 33-year-old Srikanth used his trademark net play to take the opening game before the 21-year-old Frenchman rallied to win 11-21, 21-15, 21-15 in an hour and six minutes.

Srikanth used his touch and precision to unsettle Lanier, taking the opening game before the youngster's superior speed and attacking play turned the contest in his favour. Srikanth's net game was particularly effective in the early stages, with his spinning tumbles and angled returns repeatedly leaving Lanier struggling to fashion a reply.

The result was the Indian was soon 11-5 at the break and went on to take the game comfortably. It was only after Lanier's coach Kestutis Navickas' advice to move away from the forecourt and build attacks from the back during the mid-game interval that Lanier found his footing. Lanier started using his speed to change the momentum and make a comeback.

Srikanth made a strong start to the decider, opening up a 5-2 lead and 11-9 at the interval but Lanier responded by stepping up the pace and relying on his speed and defence to wrest control of the match and complete the comeback.