After losing their first two ties of the Vodafone Premier league 3, Delhi Dashers recorded their maiden win of the season at home with complete domination as they won 5-0 Sunday night against Hyderabad Hunters. Marquee player Carolina Marin's win was the only positive for the Hunters as they were outwitted by the Dashers.
In the first match of the tie, Delhi's Russian pair of Ivan Sozonov and Ivanov Vladimir took on Hyderabad's Markis Kido and Yoo Yeon Seong in men's double. The South Korean-Indonesian duo of Hunters proved to be no match for the All England 2017 men's doubles winner. The Russian champions won the match in straight set 15-9, 15-11 to give a 1-0 lead to Dashers.
Hoping to bounce back with two points, Hunters prepared for their "trump match" in the first men's singles match of the night.
The second encounter of the night saw Delhi having a strong start as Wing Ki Wong Vincent took a 5-1 lead against Hyderabad's lee Hyun in the first game of the men's singles. lee Hyun soon got hold of the game and took a 7-6 lead. The Korean never dropped his lead after that and subsequently won the game 15-13.
In the second set, Vincent raised his game to take an 8-5 lead over lee. The Dashers' World No 8 didn't let the game slip this time as he took one point after another in short succession to win the set 15-11 and level the score at 1-1.
In the third and penultimate set, lee started strongly with a 3-0 lead.
But Vincent soon took complete control of the match and won the game and the match 15-4 to give Dashers a strong 2-(-1) lead.
In the marquee clash of the night, women's singles world No 4 Carolina Marin (Hunters) took on World No 6 Sung Ji Hyun (Dashers).
Defying no expectations, both the girls were involved in an intense battle. In a see-saw match, Marin and Hyun were tied at 10-10. 2016 Olympic gold medalist soon went on to win the game after grabbing 5 points in a row.
Taking cue from the first game, Marin took a 8-3 lead in the second game. After a short interval, the 24-year-old Spanish shuttler extended her lead to 11-5.
Hyun fought hard to get back into the game as she cut short the lead by two points at 12-10 but couldn't stop her higher-ranked counterpart from grabbing the second set and the match 15-10, 15-12 to bring Hyderabad back in the game to reduce the score to 2-0.
In Hunter's Trump match, World No 22 Tian Houwei was up against Dashers' B Sai Praneeth. Match turned into a gruelling battle as both players fought for every inch but World No 16 Praneeth soon got upper hand in the set as he took a 9-4 lead with 5 consecutive points. Unperturbed by Indian shuttler's clever gameplay, Houwei soon cut shot the lead to 12-11 and subsequently tying the score and later won the game 15-14.
The second game saw another even encounter as both players were inovled in even battle.
With the momentum on his side, Houwei soon took consecutive points and was on verge of winning the game at 14-10.
But Praneeth showed fighting spirit and took five points on the trot to grab the set 15-14 as the match went into the decisive third set.
Disappointingly, the third game turned out to be a one-sided affair as Houwei took a strong 13-7 lead and soon won the match 15-14, 14-15, 15-10 to give Dashers an unassailable lead of 4-0.
In the dead rubber, Delhi's Ashwini Ponnappa and Ivanov Vladimir defeated the mixed doubles pair of Pia Zebadiah Bernadet and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in straight games 15-11, 15-12 to complete the Hunters' humiliation.