PBL: Awadhe Warriors beat Pune7Aces 4-3
December 25, 2018, Pune
Ashwini Ponappa and Christiansen Mathias romped to a 15-8, 11-15, 15-12 victory over the rivals Vladmir Ivanov and Line Hjmark Kjaersfeldt in the mixed doubles match to hand their team Awadhe Warriors 4-3 win against Pune7Aces in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in Mumbai on Monday.
The scores were levelled at 3-3 before the mixed doubles game and then under pressure the duo of Ponappa and Mathias won the close game to hand Pune their second successive loss of the tournament.
Pune7Aces had lost their opening tie against Hyderabad Hunters on Saturday.
Ponappa and Mathias were tested in their match by the Punes mixed doubles pair, but in the end the duo held their nervous to come out triumphant despite losing the second game.
Earlier, reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin and rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen brought Pune7Aces into contention after they overcame their respective opponents of Awadhe Warriors.
Before Marins and Sens matches, Pune7Aces were trailing 0-3, but then Marin and Sen won their respective womens singles and second mens singles matches to level the scores to 3-3.
While Marin overcame her opponent Beiwen Zhang in straight sets (15-13, 15-9), Sen got better of his South Korean rival Dong Keun Lee, who is world ranked 27th also in straight sets (15-11, 15-8).
Also Marins match was Punes trump match and her win meant that their side got the much-needed two points.
Marin, who had lost her first game of the tournament against P V Sindhu, was under pressure to perform.
