Hyderabad: Egged on by the home crowd, a Saina Nehwal-inspired Hyderabad Hotshots consolidated their position by taking an early 2-0 lead in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) face-off against bottom-placed Banga Beats here today.
Saina won her match 21-17 14-21 11-8 against Ying Tai Tzu, after Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk gave the hosts a cracking start by staving off the challenge of India's top male shuttler Parupalli Kashyap 21-20 21-18.
After giving ample evidence of her touch in the first game, Saina went down easily in the second to give Bangalore a glimmer of hope.
However, the third and final game belonged to Saina.
The HotShots took a 1-0 win after Saensomboonsuk defeated Kashyap to qualify for the semifinals.
The two victories enabled Hyderabad to reach the top of the points table.
The keenly-awaited game of the day, the women's singles match between icon player Saina and Banga Beats' Ying Tai Tzu began as a close contest with the score being 7-4 at first break.
What followed was a visual treat of powerful smashes, rallies for the spectators as the two seasoned players sweated it out. Saina managed to move ahead and the score was 14-10 by the second interval.
Though Ying Tai Tzu tried her best to narrow the gap, a few unforced errors proved costly for her and the never-say-die Saina succeeded in maintaining the lead. Saina's deft play, however, ensured that she pocketed it 21-17.
Tzu fought back in the second game and made it 7-6 at the first break but Saina narrowed the gap soon and equalled the score at 10-10. Ying Tai Tzu did not give up and succeeded in extending her lead.
Long rallies followed before Tai managed to wrest the second game 21-14.
The deciding third game was a keenly fought battle comprising of powerful smashes and cross court shots with Saina taking the lead.
Saina kept up the momentum and reached the target 11 points against 8 scored by Ying Tai Tzu. A standing ovation followed.
In the opening match, Saemsomboonsuk took an early lead. However, Kashyap caught up levelling the score at 10-10.
With the combination of some powerful smashes and a rallies, Kashyap surpassed Tanongsak at the time of second interval by racing away to a 14-11 lead.
Tanongsak, however, put up a tough fight and made matters difficult for Kashyap with his gritty play. The keen contest were locked at 20-20 before the Thai had the last laugh.
Continuing his intelligent play, Tanongsak surged ahead in the second game and established a solid lead of 14-4 by the second break. Kashyap tried to come back into the game and took the score to 16-18. However, the Hyderabad player prevailed finally and ended the game 21-18.
Saensomboonsuk said, "It's always great to play against Kashyap. The last smash was something which I would always like to remember and also like to thank the crowd who has been very supportive."
Talking after her match, Saina acknowledging she had been under pressure as she was playing at home. "Looking at the crowd in my hometown, I was a little bit under pressure that I have to win the match. In the third game, I fought hard and kept my cool. "I am very excited to play the semi-finals tomorrow as it will be the first time that I am playing in a team championship and I am sure my team will give its best," she said.
 Meanwhile, in the men's doubles event that followed, Banga Beats players Akshay Dewalkar and Carston Mogensen beat Hyderabad's Goh V Shem and Wah Lim Khim 15-21, 21-15, 11-1.
 Banga Beats' Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark, currently ranked world No.9, prevailed over Hyderabad's Ajay Jayaram (ranked No.24) in the second men's singles match of the tie. It was an easy match for the player from Denmark who finished the duel quickly in both the games.
"I am happy for my game but a bit disappointed for my opponent (Jayaram) who didn't play his best game. Since Ajay has to play the semi-finals tomorrow, I kept expecting him to give a good fight but the game went smooth and it did not even last till the third game. My overall experience of playing in IBL has been amazing and I would like to come back again next year to play for Banga Beats," Jorgensen said.
The mixed doubles event of the day, between Hyderabad's Pradnya Gadre and Kona Tarun and Carston Mogensen and Aparna Balan of Banga Beats, too, was a keenly-fought contest. The Hyderabad pair won the first game 21-18, but lost the second game 16-21. Then, although Gadre and Tarun put up a stiff resistance, Banga Beats won the third game 11-9. Of the five matches in the tie, Banga Beats won three, while Hyderabad emerged successful in two. According to an official announcement, Hyderabad would take on Pune tomorrow in the first semi-final here.