Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand upset seeded Americans to reach pre-quarters at BWF World Championships 2026
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat 16th seeds Lauren Lam and Allison Lee 21-15, 21-12 at the BWF World Championships 2026 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium on Tuesday to move into the pre-quarterfinals, while Lakshya Sen and Unnati Hooda also advanced to the second round.
The Indian women’s doubles pair, ranked 39th, completed the win in 39 minutes with Gayatri controlling the net and Treesa using a mix of soft drops and powerful smashes to unsettle the Americans. After early exchanges the home favourites opened a 6-2 lead by winning four straight points to close out the first game, then produced a seven-point run from 5-4 to 12-4 in the second to secure the victory.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda recovered from a 13-16 deficit in the opening game to defeat Thet Htar Thuzar of Myanmar 22-20, 21-16 and earn a second-round meeting with 13th seed Michelle Li of Canada. Li required extra points in the first game before beating Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian 22-20, 21-12.
Fourteenth-seeded Lakshya Sen overcame Austria’s Collins Filimon 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 after a slow start in which Filimon used his height and smashes to take the first game. Sen claimed 11 straight points from 10-8 in the second game and changed side at 11-1 in the decider as he closed out the match; he said, “I was a bit tentative in the first game because I was playing from the difficult side and was struggling to get used to the conditions. But in the second game, I knew that I will be playing from the better side and once I found the range of my shots it was quite easy.”
Several top seeds fell or needed comebacks: Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto beat 5th seed Christo Popov of France 21-17, 21-19, Nozomi Okuhara came from a game down to defeat Ozge Bayrak of Turkey 18-21, 21-16, 21-9, and fourth seed Chen Yufei of China recovered to beat Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy 18-21, 21-8, 21-11. Jonatan Christie beat Matthias Kicklitz 21-15, 21-14 in men’s singles.
In doubles and mixed events, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik overcame Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul 15-21, 21-11, 21-18 in men’s doubles, while Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva beat India’s Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi 21-7, 21-14 in women’s doubles. Canada’s Jonathan Lai and Crystal Lai edged Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde 20-22, 21-19, 21-17 in mixed doubles. The mixed pair Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh were beaten 16-21, 30-29, 24-22 by Turkey’s Emre Sonmez and Yasemen Bektas after failing to convert nine match points across the second and third game.
Lakshya Sen will face Garret Tan of the United States in the second round, and Unnati Hooda’s next opponent is 13th seed Michelle Li of Canada.