PBL : Sugiarto fires Delhi into final of PBL with win over Chennai

Both teams went into the match with sane bets on their top stars – Chennai put the trump on P V Sindhu, and Delhi placed it on Sugiarto who was up last, promising a thrilling finish to the semi-final.

Delhi Acers opened on the front foot with the men's doubles pair of Koo Kien and heavy-hitter Tan Heong coasting to victory in straight sets to give them a 1-0 lead.

Ajay Jayaram was expected to easily extend Delhi's lead against Sony Kuncoro, placed 49 ranks below him on the World rankings. But, Jayaram made life difficult for himself with a first-set loss.

Both players traveled lock-step until 14-14 with a maximum of two points separating them at any point in the first set. With two defensive players on court, the set was played at the net and won at the net. Kuncoro finally took down the set in sudden death with a jump smash.

Jayaram made amends for that disastrous first set by running up four straight points to go 4-0 and later 8-3 up in the second set, on the back of some error-prone play by Kuncoro. He comfortably won the set at 15-10 despite a late surge from 6-14 by Kuncoro.

Jayaram won the third set 15-7 to make it 2-0 for Delhi.

In the second of the Adcock vs Adcock duels this season, the husband again got the better of his better half to breathe life into the match-up. Chennai's Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah won in straight sets to make it 1-2 and set the stage for the match-up next between Chennai's P V Sindhu and P C Thulasi.

Sindhu started proceedings with a screaming serve down the line to set the tone for the remainder of the match. Thulasi was reading Sindhu's smashes pretty well early on and managed to keep up until 3-4. Sindhu, then, broke free with many of her trademark down-the-line smashes and ran away with the set at 15-6.

The second set was no different with Sindhu running up a 7-1 lead in no time. Thulasi changed tack with some shrewd placements, but Sindhu's reach kept her in good steed as she managed to return Thulasi's wily drops and feints easily. Sindhu raced to a 14-7 lead and signed off with a cross-court smash to make it 3-2 for Chennai.

But hopes for a Chennai win were only momentary, as Delhi had reserved their trump until last on Tommy Sugiarto, who leads the tournament on both the match win and smash charts. World No. 11 Sugiarto was pitted against lower-ranked Brice Leverdez.

Leverdez hit the ground running with some wonderful attacking net play to go up 3-0. But Sugiarto, known for his patient play, slowed down the rallies and pushed the Frenchman to the backcourt forcing him into making errors. And they came pretty thick and fast. With Sugiarto moving him around, Brice rushed for the kill only to go long or find the net. Sugiarto wrapped up the set at 15-11.

Leverdez recovered well to keep up his attacking play and reach 5-5 in the second set. But Sugiarto's strategy of pulling him into long rallies won again as Leverdez made repeated unforced errors. At 7-5, the players played an immensely long 65-shot rally which expectedly ended with Leverdez pushing the shuttle into the net. Sugiarto led at 12-9 and earned three match points at 14-12. On the 28th point, with his match on the line, Leverdez made a brilliant 373 kmph smash to make it 14-14. On sudden death, Sugiarto's defensive skills, however, once again saved the day as he picked up an impossible smash from Leverdez, whose attacking finish ended off the line.

Delhi now will face the winner of the semi-final between Awadhe and Mumbai on Sunday. The second semi-final is slated for tomorrow.

Scores:

Delhi Acers vs Chennai Smashers 4-3

Koo Kien/Tan Heong vs Chris Adcock/ Pranaav Chopra 15-10, 15-14

Ajay Jayaram vs Sony Kuncoro 14-15, 15-10, 15-7

Koo Kien/ Gabrielle Adcock vs Chris Adcock/ Pia Zebadiah 9-15, 14-15

P C Thulasi vs P V Sindhu* 6-15, 7-15

Tommy Sugiarto* vs Brice Leverdez 15-11, 15-14