Gayatri-Treesa advance to second round of Syed Modi International

India's women's doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the second round of the US$ 240,000 Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament, in Lucknow, on Tuesday.

The defending champions overcame Malaysia's Cheng Su Hui and Tan Zhing Yi 19-21, 22-20, 21-9 in a hard-fought opener.

It was a promising outing for the Indian duo, especially with Gayatri returning to competitive action last week at Australian Open after a five-month layoff due to a shoulder injury.

Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra also entered the second round, defeating compatriots Peeva Evangelin and Samriddhi Singh 21-8, 21-11 in a one-sided contest.

In the men's doubles, fifth seeds Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun -- winners at the Al Ain Masters Super 100, Turkiye International Challenge and Telangana Challenge -- posted a 21-11, 21-13

victory over Ayush Makhija and Sujey Tamboli to advance to the second round.

Second seeds Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K. also moved ahead comfortably, beating Swarnaraj Bora and Nibir Ranjan 21-8, 21-17.

Viplav Kuvale and Viraj Kuvale too made a winning start.

In the men's singles, Arya Bhivpathaki, Abhinav Thakur, Bharat Raghav and Orijit Chaliha entered the main draw after registering wins in the qualification round.

Aditi Rao and Aalisha Naik also advanced to the women's singles main draw after winning their respective qualifying matches. 

The mixed doubles pair of C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri produced a composed 21-13, 21-15 win over the Israel–Hungary duo of Misha Zilberman and Agnes Korosi, while Bhavya Chhabra and Vishakha Toppo followed that up with a solid 21-19, 21-15 victory against fellow Indians Devvert Mann and Nishu Malik.