There is speed that’s the length of a blink of the eye – like what Gayatri Gopichand has at the net. While the footwork and explosive stomp to the net are visible, Gayatri and Treesa Jolly’s 21-15, 21-12 win over Americans Lauren Lam and Allison Lee also included the computer-processor-paced thinking of Gayatri, which proved the difference in the Round 2 win over opponents with the same ditto style as them, but smarter, swifter executions.

Then there is the altitude 3D pace that Treesa Jolly gets when she leaps high for jump smashes. “Treesa’s smash is amazing. When I’m playing from the front, I can hear her smash,” Gayatri said of the whoosh that streaks past her ear.

Circa 2005-06, the gazelle-like elegant style of women’s badminton started soaring into the vertical plane. Not only did the smash gain power, but it also boasted altitude. The women’s jump smash has some outstanding poster girls now – in India, the finest at the elite level is Treesa.

Newly bestowed with the Arjuna Award declared on Tuesday, the duo calmly completed a start-to-finish victory, and logged court time over back-to-back matches to reach the Round of 16. Returning from injury sustained on the eve of her Uber Cup departure, Treesa had taken her time to ease back into tournament play, winning in the Philippines. But it was the familiar sight of Gayatri rushing to the front and, importantly, Treesa rushing to the back and taking off with her head bobbing on the Court 1 horizon that signalled the duo was back.

That sort of powerplay is not merely a preference now. With Chinese World No 1s in women’s doubles, Liu-Tan making the plyo-power game the bedrock of their aggressive style, the women’s game has transcended into a both-feet airborne full-blooded smash. In the Treesa-Gayatri match, American Lauren Lam mirrored the Treesa smash, albeit from the left side.

Perhaps the most effortless jump smasher among women is 3-time World Champion in singles, Akane Yamaguchi. “It just naturally came to me,” she said after her first-round win. The 5-ft-1 naturally needed the yo-yo power with her frame and her arching smash, where she drags the shuttle from well behind her head, is iconic now. A feat in agility, the underrated element is how she lands from a leap and carries on in long rallies. Her inspiration? “Arisa Higashino” – the former mixed doubles Olympic medallist with her men’s partner Yuta Watanabe, whose explosive pop smash she matched.

The OG of women’s jump smashing was in Delhi too. Scottish Kirsty Gilmour, who might’ve lost to Han Yue, but not before making life difficult for the Chinese. She would name former World No 2, Julianne Schenk, as her inspiration.

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The jump-smashers cohort now has Thai Supanida Katethong along with Yamaguchi, while the likes of Chen Yufei, Wang Zhi Yi and PV Sindhu are more the hop smashers, reaching the shuttle on the bounce of toes.

The jump smash evolution, though, is sweeping through women’s badminton – and Treesa-Gayatri are firmly on board now. “Treesa has the big jump smash, but I know I need to get better at the back court,” Gayatri, who relies on angles and timing for her smashes, said.