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The Pune 7 Aces became the third team to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing Premier Badminton League as they more or less crushed the Awadhe Warriors and made it to the final four. Rituparna Das, the former National Champion, was the real trailblazer for the Aces as she took down Beiwen Zhang, in an impressive encounter, helping the Pune team to effortlessly cruise into the semi-finals after the Chennai Superstarz and the North Eastern Warriors did.
The G.M.C Balayogi SATS Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad has become the action point for all exciting ties as the Aces locked horns with the Awadhe Warriors. For the first rubber of the evening, Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol came from the side of the Warriors and clashed against the powerful duo of Chirag Shetty and Hendra Setiawan. In the heated Men's Doubles encounter which stretched over three nail-biting games, the World No. 24 pair of Sung Hyun and Cheol edged past Shetty and Olympian, Setiawan, to win 6-15, 15-9, 15-12. This was the first instance of defeat for the duo of Setiawan and Shetty in this season of PBL.
American sensation, Beiwen Zhang, stepped out next for the Awadhe Warriors Trump Match of the evening against Rituparna Das from the Pune 7 Aces. It was the first meeting between the duo. Das, a former National Champion, was super impressive and surprised Zhang with her composure as she rallied away to win points. The young Das secured the victory for the Pune 7 Aces after defeating Zhang in straight games 15-13, 15-12.
Also check out: Updated PBL Points table
For the Mixed Doubles match, Christinna Pedersen teamed up with Ivan Sozonov and went up against Pune's husband-wife duo of Chris Adcock and Gabby Adcock. Yet again, the Adcocks were sensational as they have been this entire season. The Aces handed a straight games defeat to the Warriors, as the Adcocks won, 6-15, 9-15.
For the Trump Match of the Pune 7 Aces, Kean Yew Loh took matters into his own hand against Subhankhar Dey. Against the Singaporean, Dey put up a good fight but had to succumb to a straight games loss. Although an incredibly tight match, it was Yew Loh who won 12-15, 14-15. With that the Pune 7 Aces had already won the tie, scoring 4 points.
However, in the final clash of the evening, the Warriors sent Ajay Jayaram against Japan's Kazumasa Sakai from the Pune 7 Aces. Jayaram was impressive as well and won the gripping encounter against Sakai, 6-15, 15-10, 15-13. But this victory could not help the cause of the Awadhe Warriors. The Pune 7 Aces stormed their way into the semifinals after a 4-1 comprehensive victory against the Warriors.
