Sameer Verma extended his unbeaten streak as Mumbai Rockets qualified for the semi-finals with a resounding 5-0 victory over the Chennai Smashers at the Vodafone Premier Badminton League Season 4 at The Arena by SE Trans Stadia on Saturday.
Mumbai dominated the tie from the start after Anders Antonsen and their mixed doubles pair of Pia Bernadeth and Kim Gi Jung won their matches.
Sung Ji Hyun, then, won Chennai’s first match of the day before Sameer Verma completed the win for the Rockets.
The Sameer-Parupalli Kashyap clash – the fourth rubber of the tie – was the evening’s biggest.
Sameer trailed 12-15, 5-8 as Kashyap dominated the match. But the former picked up five points on the trot and go up to 10-8.
The scores were level at 12-12 and Sameer held his nerves to take the second game 15-13. The decider her won 15-9 after trailing 3-4.
Earlier, Mumbai’s Anders Antonsen (world No 18) outclassed the 34th ranked Rajiv Ouseph. With a strong attacking game, he led 11-6 in the first game. Despite Ouseph drawing level at 14-14, the young Dane managed clinch the game 15-14.
Ouseph played some deceiving strokes to get to 8-10 in the second game but Antonsen wrapped it up 15-11.
In an enthralling mixed doubles rubber, Chennai’s world No 9 pair of Chris and Gabby Adcock’s two-match winning streak was brought to an end by the Mumbai duo of Pia Bernadeth and Kim Gi Jung 15-14, 15-14.
World No 11 Sung Ji Hyun, who has beaten the likes of Carolina Marin and PV Sindhu this season, beat Mumbai’s 111th ranked Anura Prabhudesai as expected.
The Korean’s pitch-perfect placement made life difficult for the inexperienced Prabhudesai, who committed many unforced errors. The young Mumbai girl trailed 5-9 in the first game before losing it 7-15.
In the second, Prabhudesai equalised the score at 5-5 but lost 8-15..
Men’s doubles pair of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae ended the memorable evening for Mumbai with a commanding 15-8, 15-10 win over Chennai’s Or Chin Chung and Sumeeth Reddy.