New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand began their BWF World Championships campaign with an easy win over the Spanish duo Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez here at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. 

The Indian duo registered a 21-9, 21-13 straight-game win in an opening-round match that lasted just 33 minutes.

Treesa-Gayatri set a fast pace early on, racing to a 6-2 lead before taking an 11-5 advantage into the mid-game interval. Maintaining high intensity after the break, they stretched the lead to 16-5 and comfortably wrapped up the opening game in just 13 minutes.

The Spanish pair offered tighter resistance in the early exchanges of the second game, but Treesa and Gayatri pulled ahead to lead 11-8 at the break. Staying in control during the closing stages, the Indians shut down any hopes of a comeback to seal the second game 21-13 and secure an easy victory.

Reflecting on the court conditions and the raucous crowd support. Gayatri said after the win, “The court conditions are pretty good and a whole stadium is supporting you, cheering for you, it feels good.”

“When we started playing at the end of the court, it was a little bit fast, I think when we changed the side, I think obviously we were feeling the difference that one side is fast and one side is a little bit slow.

“So accordingly, we need to play that; for those situations, we need to just push it up mentally. I feel like for the opponent also it will be the same if they go to the other side. So mentally we need to prepare for that,” she added.

The Indians will next play 16th-seeded American duo of Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee, who have received a first-round bye.

–IANS

bc/hs