PBL: Tai Tzu rallies to down Sindhu

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Hunters hopes of improving their semifinal chances went up in smoke as they lost their PBL match against Bengaluru Raptors at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Friday.
Tai Tzu Ying won a crucial match against PV Sindhu 15-11, 13-15, 15-9 to give the first victory of the season for Raptors. Hunters were poorly placed with (-1) point after Sourabh Verma lost the trump match against Brice Leverdez 12-15, 15-10, 6-15.
Earlier, Raptors got off to a winning start after their men's doubles pair of Chan Peng Soon and Rian Agung Saputro downed Vladimir Ivanov and Ben Lane in three games 15-13, 9-15, 15-12. With the scores 1-(-1) in favour of Raptors, the onus was on Sindhu to pull her team out of the woods. The contest between the world champion and the former world No.1 lived up to its top billing as both shuttlers fought fiercely before Tai took control in the third game.
Tai got off to a brisk start in the first game and won the first three points. But once Sindhu got her range, she started hitting the lines consistently. Though Tai made a valiant bid, Sindhu was too good for her in the first game.
The second game was quite close, before Tai's trickery came to the fore. In the decider, Tai upped the ante by pushing the bird hard and producing seven smash winners.