UTT 2019: G Sathiyan, Bernadette Szocs anchor Delhi's dream 8-7 victory over U Mumba in first semi-final

There have been some instances during this season of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) where teams have won with the tie score reading 8-7. However, very rarely has it all boiled down the penultimate point of the last match of the tie to decide the winner.

To top it all, that happening in a semi-final is a testimony to what has been a riveting tournament where there were no underdogs as each team was evenly poised from the outset with a good mix of domestic and foreign players.

As the first semi-final between Dabang Delhi and U Mumba was about to commence, it was difficult to ascertain if any team had a psychological edge.

Delhi had beaten U Mumba 9-6 in the group stages but U Mumba could boast of being table-toppers heading into the semi-finals, their loss against Delhi being their solitary blip in the tournament.

The first match of the tie had Delhi’s Bernadette Szocs facing U Mumba’s Doo Hoi Kem but it seemed like only one player came to the party. Bernadette, mindful of her loss to Doo earlier in the tournament, had visibly tweaked her game.

She would change her serve frequently, drawing several errors using the heavy underspin on the ball. Bernadette’s battered knee appeared to be holding up well, not least because she wasn’t being pushed away from the table.

After closing out the first game 11-5, Bernadette raised the tempo. As she gathered points in a flurry, her shouts of exultation pulled the crowd in her corner.

Doo didn’t partake in the shouts but one wondered if, underneath her centred demeanour, she had lost her focus somewhere with the boisterous crowd firmly backing her opponent.

If Doo was left friendless in the visibly polarised arena, Bernadette was rallying the crowd like Maria Sharapova, out-shouting her opponent besides out-playing her too.

Bernadette continued toying with her opponent, flitting across the mat for inside-out forehands which left Doo drawing away from the table but to no avail. The U Mumba player ranked 12 in the world to Bernadette’s 14, could never rely on her defensive play as Bernadette read into the ploy and would slot the ball for winners with ease.  The Delhi player closed out the second game 11-8.

She took an ugly fall in the first point of the third game while attempting to return a cross-court forehand from Doo which was spinning away from her. That point only served to pull the crowd further in Delhi’s corner.

As Bernadette stood up and readied herself for the next point, she was spurred on by what seemed like the loudest cheer that the Thyagaraj Sports Complex has heard this season.

It reminded of ‘The Karate Kid’ climax where coincidentally, the protagonist’s knee was pummelled by his opponent but he chose to push past the pain and finish the fight.

Bernadette did so too, trailing 1-6 but drawing level at 7-7 before losing on the golden point but winning her match 2-1.

In the first game of the second match, Delhi’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran struggled to keep up with U Mumba’s Kirill Gerassimenko who has wowed the crowd this season with his athleticism and innovative shot-making.

What stands out the most in a Kirill match is the variability of his strokes. He seems to be lashing hard at his forehands but his backhand drive almost snaps at the ball and pulls back quickly without much of a follow-through.

He soon settled into a rhythm against Sathiyan, drawing away from the table and playing the European game against the Indian who kept to the table and sent a few wide off the mark, losing the first game 6-11.

However, as the first game drew to a close, Sathiyan had read into Kirill’s overpowering tactics which had allowed the U Mumba player to play to his strengths. The second game onwards, Sathiyan, ranked 24 in the world, never took to engaging in a forehand slugfest with Kirill.

Instead, he would shuffle his shot selection, playing piercing forehands down both flanks to send Kirill scampering back, only to drop the ball short, prompting the U Mumba player to lunge forward and lift the ball tamely over the net. Sathiyan would be ready then to hit a winner with ease.

The change in strategy reaped wonders for Sathiyan who won the second game 11-7 and the third 11-8 to win the match 2-1.

The tie score now read 4-2 for Delhi. Their mixed doubles pair of Szocs and Sathiyan extended their undefeated streak by winning the following match 2-1 against the U Mumba pair of Manav Thakkar and Doo. That took the tie score to 6-3 before U Mumba’s Thakkar arrested his team’s growing deficit in his match against Jon Persson.

Manav, who had won all of his last three matches, had only played against Indian players in the league thus far. Against Jon Persson, he showed that he could hold his own against any player. The 19-year-old Manav kept his head even when threatened of being run over by a rampaging Persson who got off the blocks with some thumping forehands.

The initial onslaught was bound to be disconcerting for Manav who couldn’t even get around to offering his racquet to some of the forehands from Persson. However, he soon found a way to counter the Delhi player with his backhand.

In the post-match interaction, Manav opened up on his tactics against Persson. “I’ve always had a counter-attacking game and it comes off well when I land my backhand consistently. Luckily that happened today. I was able to prolong the rallies and found a way in,” he said after he had won the match 2-1, losing the third game only on golden point.

While the match between Manav Thakkar and Jon Persson had both going all-out and not holding back, the final match of the tie, also the decider, between Delhi’s Krittwika Sinha Roy and U Mumba’s Sutirtha Mukherjee was the ‘who blinks first?’ contest.

With Delhi 7-5 ahead, they needed Krittwika to win only one game but her opponent’s run of form complicated matters. Heading into the tie, Sutirtha Mukherjee remained the only unbeaten singles player for the entire season three of UTT.

She maintained that record after winning her match 2-1. But with her team having to bow out of the tournament, there would be sadness marring the celebrations for her milestone.

In a match where both players waited for the other to make errors, neither could rule the roost for long. Both kept to hitting safer backhand chops other than the occasional forehand topspin.

Krittwika grew visibly tenser after Sutirtha won the second game on golden point and levelled the tie score at 7-7.

The third game advanced on serve until the golden point where Krittwika let faith take its course. Her return sat up perfectly for Sutirtha who swung hard but sent it wide, also sending the Delhi dugout in a frenzy which will see them through the night of ecstasy.

Dabang Delhi beat U Mumba 8-7

Women’s Singles: Bernadette Szocs bt Doo Hoi Kem 2-1 (11-5, 11-8, 10-11)

Men’s Singles: Sathiyan G. bt Kirill Gerassimenko 2-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-8)

Mixed Doubles: Sathiyan G. / Bernadette Szocs bt Manav Thakkar / Doo Hoi Kem 2-1 (9-11, 11-9, 11-8)

Men’s Singles: Jon Persson lost to Manav Thakkar 1-2 (10-11, 9-11, 11-10)

Women’s Singles: Krittwika Sinha Roy lost to Sutirtha Mukherjee 1-2 (9-11, 10-11, 11-10)