PBL: 14th time lucky - Sugiarto stuns Chong Wei as Delhi trump Hyderabad

In the first match, P C Thulasi of Delhi went down in a see-saw match against Supanida after leading 13-12 in the third set. Coming from behind twice, Thulasi looked to have the match well in reach but a challenge that went against her at 13-13 gifted the match point to Supanida, who duly converted it to win the match 12-15, 15-9, 15-13.

In the second match, Parupalli Kashyap of Hyderabad faced Rajiv Ouseph against whom he had played his last match before this PBL – the match he had given up from the injury that took him out of action until now. With both players 3-3 in past head-to-heads, the match promised to be an exciting affair.

The match did live up to that as the lead shifted five times by the time the score reached five – mostly thanks to unforced errors by both players. Rajiv, however, change tack when his smashes did not get through and came up with some splendid drops including a special hair-pin drop that just tumbled over after hitting the tape. After taking the lead, Rajiv ran away with the first set 15-9 as Kashyap was still grappling with his unforced errors.

Kashyap shrugged off the first-set blues with a body smash at 2-2 to go into the lead in the second set. Kashyap shifted to a more net-play oriented game this time and it seemed to work. Setting up Rajiv with lobs to the backcourt, his drops found Rajiv in no man's land often as he went to 7-2. However, his under-confident smashing let Rajiv counter his net play and draw par at 7-7.

Rajiv produced one more of his special hair-pin drops to go ahead at 10-8 and soon wrapped up the set and the match to make the terms level for Delhi at 1-1.

In the third match, Jwala Gutta and Marcus Kido pulled one back for Hyderabad to make it 2-1 with a straight-sets win against Dewalkar and Adcock.

In the best match of the event so far, Hyderabad placed their trump on Lee Chong Wei against Sugiarto, who has not beaten him even once in 13 attempts. But like the Mahmud of Ghazni, Sugiarto had to travel to India to win it in the fourteenth attempt.

Chong Wei produced a masterclass in the first set – at 5-2, he dived to produce a reflex return off a perfect forecourt smash from Sugiarto, and the Indonesian failed to return it more out of shock despite getting close enough. Chong Wei came up with laser-sharp smashes again and again to take the game away from the Indonesian and closed it at 15-9.

It was on the sixth point that Chong Wei managed to open his account in the second set, which turned out to be completely opposite to the first. Sugiarto was finally coming into his own as he sent down scorching smashes along the line from the back of the court. Chong Wei's tactic of pushing him to the backcourt had no effect as he went into the double figures with a characteristic cross-court smash from the backline to make it 10-2. Chong Wei fought back briefly to get to 10 before Sugiarto closed the game out.

The third set promised a lot of action initially. In the sixth point with the scores at 3-2, Chong Wei sent down smash after smash only to see Sugiarto return it from all across the court in an extended duel before the Indonesian's return caught the net barely. The duo went in lockstep until 7-7, before Sugiarto pulled ahead, and with a lightning net kill right back at Chong Wei made it 10-7.

Sugiarto was serving for the match at 14-10, but Chong Wei almost scripted a stunning win as he saved four match points to level at 14-14. But Sugiarto finally won on the sudden death point with a drop that barely managed to tumble over the net – so close - similar to what was characteristic of the entire match.

With that win, Sugiarto had brought the contest alive as the score was now 2-1 in favor of the Delhi side.

In the final match, which also was Delhi's trump match, Koo Kien and Tan Heong of Delhi defeated Nandagopal and Satwik Raj in a three-setter again to make it 4-1 for Delhi.

Scores:

Delhi Acers vs Hyderabad Hunters 4-1

P.C. Thulasi vs Supanida Katethong 15-12, 9-15,

Rajiv Ouseph vs Parupalli Kashyap 15-9, 15-10

Akshay Dewalkar/ Gabrielle Adcock vs Markus Kido/ Jwala Gutta 7-15, 8-15

Tommy Sugiarto vs Lee Chong Wei* 9-15, 15-10, 15-14

Koo Kien/ Tan Heong* vs K Nandagopal/ Satwik Raj 15-12, 14-15, 15-13

* signifies trump match