Chirag Shetty and Hendra Setiawan beat Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Sumeeth Reddy as Pune 7 Aces ended the winning streak of Chennai Superstarz with a 5-2 scoreline in the first double header of the Premier Badminton League at the GMC Balayogi Sats Indoor Stadium on Thursday.
This was the third consecutive win for the high-flying Aces who won four matches in the tie to start the final leg of the league with a bang.
The win also enabled Pune to climb up to the second spot behind Chennai Superstarz in the league standings as they accumulated 14 points.
The biggest highlight of the day was the showdown between Rankireddy and Shetty, who partnered each other to a historic Thailand Open title win last year.
What gave the match an extra edge was that it was the fourth rubber of the tie and happened when the two teams were locked at 2-2. Chirag and Setiawan were both on top of the opposition from the first game and won the match 15-12, 15-14.
Rankireddy looked a little off-colour in the face-off and wasn't at his best. A few bounces and unforced errors from the Chennai star emboldened the Pune duo to go for their shots. Shetty showed exceptional alertness at the net.
Chirag, who had previously admitted that his partnership with Setiawan was helping sharpen his net-play, remained a wall to take the opener 15-12 for his team.
The second game witnessed a little bit more of firepower from Rankireddy as the score remained level till 6-6. Pune went ahead to 10-7 before Chennai levelled things again. Satwik's trademark smashes finally made their appearance as he kept it level till 13-13. Under pressure, Sumeeth Reddy took the initiative to save a match point at 13-14 before Hendra's mastery finished the game.
"It was a completely different experience for me. We have played against each other many times in practice but this was the first time we faced each other in a competitive match," said Shetty on seeing his regular partner on the opposite side of the net.
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