Bengaluru Raptors Edge out Pune Aces 4-3 in PBL Thriller

Pune, Dec 30 (PTI) Kidambi Srikanth notched up a thrilling win over Ajay Jayaram as Bengaluru Raptors edged out Pune 7 Aces 4-3 in a Premier Badminton League (PBL) match here Sunday.

Jayaram had never beaten Srikanth in four meetings on the BWF circuit. But that mattered little initially, considering the thunderous start that he made to the match which was Bengaluru's Trump for the night.

There was no hint of the hamstring injury that derailed Jayaram for a good part of the last one year. Gliding beautifully around the court, the Pune man produced superb smashes to take the opener 15-10.

Srikanth rebounded in the second, riding on an array of attacking shots. Even though a late surge from Jayaram brought him back to 9-12, Srikanth managed to pocket the game 15-12.

The enthralling decider witnessed a spectacular effort from Jayaram as he made it 14-14 but Srikanth was able to sneak through by taking the golden point and with it, the Trump win 10-15, 15-12, 15-14.

In the women's singles rubber, Pune skipper and icon player Carolina Marin was irrepressible in their Trump match against the 59th ranked Vu Thi Trang, a player she had never met before in any competition.

Using her lefty crosscourt smashes to perfection, the three-time world champion kept attacking her opponent's backhand wing ruthlessly.

The Spaniard refused to relent and was in charge throughout the match, building up a 7-3 lead in the first game before closing it out 15-8.

The Vietnamese had absolutely no clue how to stop the lethal Marin even in the second game.

The Spanish juggernaut continued to roll uninterruptedly, opening up an 11-5 lead to take the 15-8, 15-5 win in Pune's Trump match.

Earlier, two-time former world champion pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan gave Raptors a perfect start, defeating Pune's Chirag Shetty and Vladimir Ivanov 15-12, 15-11 in men's doubles.

But Ivanov made up for the loss in the mixed doubles rubber thanks to his deadly smashes that crushed the Commonwealth Games silver medallists Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith of Bengaluru.

Ivanov and Line Kjaersfeldt showed fantastic chemistry to grab a 15-13, 15-9 win for the Pune franchise.

In the deciding men's singles match, B Sai Praneeth defeated Lakshya Sen 15-9 15-13 to wrap the contest in Bengaluru's favour.

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