Macau: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand's campaign at the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament came to an end as they lost to Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu in the women's doubles semifinals here on Saturday.
The third-seeded Indian duo fought hard but lost 17-21, 21-16, 10-21 to the world No. 54 pair, bringing India's challenge at the tournament to an end.
Ranked 23rd in the world, Treesa and Gayatri had already lost to Hsieh and Hung twice this year.
Hsieh and Hung opened strong, leading 8-5, and despite the Indians levelling at 8-8, the Chinese Taipei pair won five consecutive points to secure a 13-8 lead.
Treesa and Gayatri fought back to make it 15-15, but Hsieh and Hung regained control to take the first game.
In the second game, both pairs went toe-to-toe, with the Indians holding a narrow 11-10 lead at the interval. Treesa and Gayatri then raised their intensity to stretch their lead to 17-12 before clinching the second game and forcing a decider.
However, Hsieh and Hung came out firing in the final game, racing to a 14-2 lead. The Indians tried to mount a comeback, reducing the deficit to 10-18. But the early gap proved too large and the Chinese Taipei pair closed out the match.
