Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva, the Indonesian women’s doubles pair, showed focus and consistency in their match against Indian representatives Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela at the All England Open 2024 tournament. They emerged victorious with a straight-set win, 21-18, 21-12, held at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England.
The match saw Apri/Fadia initially taking a significant lead over their Indian counterparts in the first set. However, Jolly/Pullela managed to catch up and even turn the tide in their favor. Despite this, the ninth-ranked women’s doubles pair in the world did not succumb to the pressure and fought hard to secure victory in the first set.
“We were prepared for how we should play. We started strong, but after the first set interval, our game weakened, we lost focus, and slowed down the tempo, allowing the opponents to come back,” said Fadia, as quoted by PP PBSI.
“However, after that, Apri and I communicated a lot and managed to regain control of the match,” she added.
In the second set, Apri/Fadia displayed a more solid and confident performance, leaving no room for their opponents to develop their game. This positive trend continued for the Hong Kong Open 2023 champions after a long break from tournaments due to Apri’s injury.
“Our condition and the match atmosphere are getting better day by day. The coach kept reminding us to build up the match atmosphere. We try to stay consistent with that,” Apri said.
With this win, Apri/Fadia will face the Japanese pair Rena Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto in the second round of the BWF Super 1000 tournament on Thursday, local time.
“We have not met them before, so we will study their game through video recordings. Prepare our strengths, improve our weaknesses, and anticipate their patterns,” said the gold medalist from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.