Mumbai beat Hyderabad Hunters, to face Chennai in final

Sung Ji Hyun and H S Prannoy guided Mumbai Rockets to a thumping 3- (-1) win over Hyderabad Hunters to set up a summit clash with Chennai Smashers in the Premier Badminton League Season 2 at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium here today.
Starting the tie, it was the women's single clash between Carolina Marin of Hunters and Sung Ji Hyun of Mumbai Rockets, which was a trump match for Hunters. Marin made a confident start and pocketed the opening game 11-6 but Sung Ji was a different player altogether in the next game as she dominated her opponent to win the second game 11-6.

In the decider, Sung Ji continued her good run and survived some intense moments to prevailed over Marin 11-5 to make it 1 - (-1) in favour of Rockets. The win not only kick-started Mumbai's campaign on a thumping note but also made it two wins on the trot for Sung Ji over Marin in the league.
In the second match, H S Prannoy of Rockets dished out a superlative performance to edge out Sameer Verma 11-8 15-13. It extend his winning streak to six in the league.
A lot was riding on Prannoy in the match as it was his trump match and a win would put the tie beyond Hunters' reach. Prannoy did not fail to live up to the expectations of his team who entrusted him with the crucial trump match.

He won the first game 11-8 to take upper hand in the match. In the second game, Sameer tried to put up a strong fight but Prannoy saved three game points and held on to his nerve to win the game 15-13 to seal the match.

Earlier, Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu produced a disciplined performance to outwit compatriot and London bronze winner Saina Nehwal in straight games as Chennai Smashers entered the finals of the Premier Badminton league season 2 with a 4-1 win over Awadhe Warriors here tonight.
China Open champion Sindhu, who has never defeated compatriot Saina in a tournament, finally exorcised the ghosts of her losses with a 11-7 11-8 victory over her senior colleague in a crucial women's singles clash which was Chennai's trump match.

The Warriors then needed to win their men's doubles Trump match but V Shem Goh and Markis Kido failed to produce the goods and went down 3-11 10-12 to Chennai's Chris Adcock and Mads Pieler Kolding in the final rubber.
Earlier, Awadhe Warriors grabbed early lead against Chennai Smashers with World No. 10 Thai pair of Savitree Amitrapal and Bodin Isara defeating Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock, the 2014 Commonwealth games gold medallist pair, 9-11 11-8 11-5 in the opening match.
The second men's singles pitted Rio Olympic
quarterfinalist Kidambi Srikanth against 2014 World Championship bronze medallist Tommy Sugiarto and the Indian dished out a gritty performance to stave off the challenge from the Indonesian with a 14-12 11-7 win to put Awadhe Warriors 2-1 ahead after the third match.

Expectations then touched a crescendo as Sindhu and Saina took the court for their crucial encounter with crowd rooting for the two stalwarts in equal measure.
The match started n a pulsating note as Sindhu tried to push Saina at the back of the court and then catch her at net. Her ploy worked initially as she led 4-2. But the Olympic silver medallist committed a series of errors as her miscued drops found the net and also went out as Saina kept breathing down the neck at 5-5.
Saina moved into the break with a slender 6-5 lead after Sindhu hit long.

After the breather, Saina moved into a 7-6 lead before she smashed at the nets to allow Sindhu level par. Another error in net dribble and the tables had turned as Sindhu lead 8-7. The senior shuttler pushed another one out and then Sindhu caught her opponent at the forecourt to move to game point.
Sindhu finally grabbed the opening game after Saina hit wide. The second game started with the same intensity as Sindhu made her intent clear with a power-packed smash to earn the first point. She hit out next before a forehand return found Saina struggling.
The 26-year-old then produced a body smash to make it 2-3 but she once again found the net and Sindhu too produced a superb smash which left Saina stranded. Sindhu then sent one at the forecourt but she misjudged the shuttle at the baseline as it was 5-3. Sindhu went into the break with a 6-3 lead after earning a point with her cross court slice.

After the break, Sindhu made another judgement error at the baseline and then her smash got buried at the net as Saina narrowed the lead to 5-6. What ensued next was a marathon rally consisting of 48 shots. It was Saina who was trying to engage Sindhu in rally by using tosses at the back court but eventually Sindhu managed to win the point with a cross court net return.
Sindhu moved to 9-5 with a deceptive net play after Saina had committed another net error. The 2010 Commonwealth Games champion once again narrowed the lead to 8-9 but Sindhu soon produced a cross court smash before a superb drop from the back of the court sealed the issue for her.

"It was a tough match. I could not play my game. I wasn't moving well. I tried everything but she played well today," Saina said after the match.
Sindhu said, "I knew it would be an exciting match and it went on well for me. There were rallies but I played a good game, The competition has been tough with Carolina Marin and Sung Ji Hyun also playing well.