Pune 7 Aces surprised table-topper Chennai Superstarz 5-2 in the Premier Badminton League championship at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.
However, Chennai continues to be at the top with 15 points, while Pune moved from third to second place with 14 points.
Left-right combo
For Pune, the left-right combination of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock proved to be too good for R. Satwiksairaj and Jessica Pugh in the mixed doubles match as it wrapped up the match 15-10, 15-12 with a high quality display of great coordination both at the net and in the way Chris repeatedly came up with those telling smashes.
Later, in the trump match for Chennai, World No. 30 Kirsty Gilmour made short work of the World No. 100 Rituparna Das with a 15-10, 15-12 win.
Delectable play
Gilmour player mixed some great cross-court strokes with delectable drops to repeatedly push the young Indian on to the backfoot.
Then the focus was on the fast-improving World No. 32 Lakshya Sen of Chennai. And, he too had a convincing 11-6 lead in the first game before Loh Ken Yew picked five points in-a-row and eventually win the game.
In the second game, Lakshya again led 6-4, relying more on his big smashes down the line, and did well to take the issue into the decider.
Yew raised the bar and outsmarted the young Indian shuttler, getting the cross-court drops to near perfection to win the contest.
With team scores tied two-all, the onus was on Chirag Shetty and Hendra Setiawan of Pune as it was the trump match for them.
And, they lived up to the expectations with a clinical performance under pressure. After losing the first game 15-12, Satwiksairaj and Sumeeth Reddy did fight back brilliantly to level the scores at 14-all, after trailing 7-11.
But, when it mattered most, they faltered to give Pune an unbeatable lead.
The results: Pune 7 Aces bt Chennai Superstarz 5-2 (Chris Adcock & Gabrielle Adcock bt R. Satwiksairaj & Jessica Pugh 15-10, 15-12; Rituparna Das lost to Kirsty Gilmour (T) 12-15, 6-15; Loh Kean Yew bt Lakshya Sen 15-13, 10-15, 15-8; Chirag Shetty & Hendra Setiawan (T) bt B. Sumeeth Reddy & R. Satwiksairaj 15-12, 15-14; Kazumasa Sakai bt K. Sathish Kumr 15-10, 15-12).
