India Open: First Milestone for New Pair
It’s early days in their partnership, but the signs are good for Ayako Sakuramoto and Arisa Igarashi. The newly-formed pair achieved a formidable feat in taking down Olympic silver medallists Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning…
· DEV SUKUMAR
It’s early days in their partnership, but the signs are good for Ayako Sakuramoto and Arisa Igarashi. The newly-formed pair achieved a formidable feat in taking down Olympic silver medallists Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning in straight games to make the semifinals of the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2025.
The two are in only their third tournament, having come together in November for the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2024, where they had to start in qualifying. They couldn’t have foreseen a better start for 2025, as they held off world No.9 Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela in the opening round before going on to face world No.2 Liu/Tan.
The Chinese have made at least the semifinals of 14 of their last 16 tournaments; their last quarterfinal exit was at the VICTOR China Open in September. The unfazed Japanese could depend on Igarashi’s aggressive jump-smashing game and Sakuramoto’s left-handed angles to keep the pressure on the Chinese, who eventually caved in 21-15 21-19.