The Malaysian duo and Carolina Marin give Hunters a much needed win; beat Bengaluru 4-3
HYDERABAD HUNTERS beat Bengaluru Blasters in a closely fought contest 4-3 in Bengaluru. This tie saw some unusual pairings and lot of surprises, making it probably the most exciting tie until now.
Tan Boon/Tan Wee along with Carolina Marin gave the Hunters this victory.
To begin the tie, Sameer Verma was up against Boonsak Ponsana and was dominating from the start of the game as he went on to win the first 11-8. A similar start to the second game as he win 11-7 and put his team in the lead 1-0. Ponsana had no chance of getting back, the youngster showing good command over the match.
It was followed by mixed doubles contest which saw Sikki Reddy/Ko Sung playing a rare pair of Satwik/Carolina Marin. Though Satwik/Marin gave a fight it was the winning pair of Sikki/Ko Sung who took the match in their favour and there were no surprises there. But it was really good experience for the youngster Satwik to be playing alongside Marin. Sikki/Sung won 11-9, 11-7 to get their team back in the tie, 1-1.
Viktor Axelsen playing his trump match and winning the same put his team in the lead by 3-1. The Dane didn't have much trouble to trump his opponent Sai Praneeth in straight games, 11-6, 11-5.
The men's doubles contest was a crucial match for the Hunters as Tan Boon/Tan Wee were up against Ko Sung/Yoo Yeong. Losing the first game 11-5 put the Malaysian pair under immense pressure. But the Malaysians knew they had to get back and that's exactly what they did as they won the following two games 13-11, 11-5.
A brilliant comeback from Tan Boon/Tan Wee made the score board look like 2-3, still the Blasters were leading but the final match was the trump for the Hunters.
Marin was up against Ashwini Ponnappa, yet another surprise in this tie. And to everyone's surprise, Ashwini took the first game to her name 11-9. Too many errors from the Spaniard saw Ashwini capitalising on those mistakes and taking away points to her favour.
From the start of the second game it saw Marin dominating throughout and therefore she took the game 11-5 pushing it to a definite decider of the match and the tie.
The final game of the match was a neck-to-neck cracker and Ashwini gave her all to get to her opponents' nerves. But Marin slowly got back and with the Indian's errors gave the points to the Spaniard winning the match 11-8.
This win gave the Hunters the tie 4-3.
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