PBL - Saina takes Awadhe through in a day of upsets

In the first match, Bodin Issara and K Maneesha of Awadhe lost a tight three-setter to Khim Lim and Ashwini Ponnappa 13-15, 15-11, 13-15. Ponnappa's experience shone through as she controlled the match in the fag end letting their opponents make the unforced errors.

In the second, Sameer Verma scored an upset victory against higher-ranked Sai Praneeth to make it 2-0 for Bengaluru. Verma saved two game points before closing out the second game and the match to win 15-13, 15-14.

Bengaluru had, as expected, placed their trump bet on star Kidambi Srikanth against Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk. The World No. 9 held a 2-2 win-loss record going into the crucial match against the former World No. 9 Tanongsak, a heavy-hitter with a recorded 403 kmph smash in the event.

Srikanth gave up the initial advantage as he trailed until 8-9, but seemed to find his feet when he drew level with a well-set cross court smash to go up 11-10. But he lost the serve and missed another chance to equalize at 11-12 when he miscued a hairpin drop that ended up getting whacked right at him by Tanongsak. Tanongsak wasted no time in closing out the game 15-11 with an on-the-line smash.

The second upset of the day seemed on the way as Srikanth began the second game as well on the back-foot. Tanongsak was in complete control as he toyed around with Srikanth setting him up with lobs to the backcourt before smashing the returns. Srikanth had no answer to Tanongsak's 400 kmph backcourt smashes and lost the set 10-15 to let Awadhe back into the match at 1-1.

Saina appeared on to a hat-trick upset today when she trailed Di 1-6 in what was expected to be an easy match – Saina had herself to blame for the sluggish movement resulting in a series of unforced errors. The unperturbed World No. 2, however, flipped the switch suddenly and won the next point setting up Di with a backcourt lob before closing with an accurate drop with Di still stuck in the backcourt. Saina then closed in, overtook and went into the double figures before giving away the next point at 10-6. Barring a 44-shot rally which she lost, Saina appeared comfortable as she mixed up a few drops and smashes to close the game at 15-10.

The second set followed the same script of the first – at least until midway as Saina came back from 3-7 to reach 8-9, but Saina's bid to draw par was a powerful smash that unfortunately caught the net. Di was suddenly on to game point at 14-9, but Saina was in no mood to give in. She saved four set points before Di inevitably won the game.

The lesson seemed to have sunk in as a clinical Saina did not yield an inch and raced to 6-0 with her backhand flicks coming into play often. Di managed to wrest two points to 2-10, but Saina seemed in a hurry to finish the match evidenced by her almost comical rush to the serving position at every turn. After a brief interlude of serve exchanges, Saina finished the match in emphatic fashion with a body smash - with an apologetic smile about letting it go to three sets - to take Awadhe to an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Interestingly, Saina also took the lead at the 'fastest smash of the event' table off rival P V Sindhu with a 361 kmph smash today.

In the final tie, Awadhe won the doubles match in straight sets 15-12, 15-6 to make it 4-1.

Scores:

Awadhe Warriors vs Bengaluru Topguns 4-1

Issara/Maneesha vs Lim/ Ponnappa 13-15, 15-11, 13-15

Sai Praneeth vs Sameer Verma 13-15, 14-15

Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk vs Kidambi Srikanth* 15-11, 15-10

Saina Nehwal* vs Suo Di 15-10, 9-14, 15-8

Issara/ Yun vs How/ Lim 15-12, 15-6

* - signifies trump match