Mumbai: Although Carolina Marin managed to win the Pune 7 Aces’ Trump Match in the women’s singles match-up against Zhang Beiwen of Awadhe Warriors on Monday, but her team was struggling and fell short of everyone’s expectations to lose its second consecutive tie in the 2018/2019 Premier Badminton League (PBL) season.
In a nail-biting first set, Marin got into her groove quickly with some ferocious smashes to break Zhang’s defense multiple times. Zhang was trying to hang in there until she made an unforced error to hand the first set to Marin 15-13.
Marin continued to pressure Zhang and moved the American player all over the court with aggressive attacks. Marin eventually won Pune 7 Aces’ Trump Match against Zhang 15-9 in the second.
Early in the tie, Son Wan Ho of Awadhe Warriors edged past Frenchman Brice Leverdez of Pune 7 Aces 15-14, 15-7.
In the final match of the day, Vladimir Ivanov/Line Kjaersfeldt of Pune 7 Aces took on Mathias Christiansen/Ashwini Ponnappa of Awadhe Warriors for the deciding match.
Although Ivanov/Kjaersfeldt managed to force a decider, but a misjudgment from Ivanov allowed Christiansen/Ponnappa to claim the match so was the Awadhe. Awadhe Warriors ultimately made a narrow escape with a 4-3 win over Pune 7 Aces.
