PANAJI: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran rolled back the years to cruise past Payas Jain 3-0 in the second men's singles match as Dabang Delhi TTC defeated Ahmedabad APL Pipers 9-6 to keep their top-four hopes alive in the Ultimate Table Tennis Season 7 at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.
Later, Pipers' Manika Batra edged Sutirtha Mukherjee 2-1 but that meant little in the bigger context as Sathiyan's win over Payas had helped Delhi reach the eight-point mark.
Delhi, who had entered the match at sixth spot with 27 points, needed this victory to stay in contention.
Sathiyan had earlier combined with Maria Xiao to beat Ahmedabad's mixed pair of Payas Jain and Sofia Polcanova 2-1.
In the singles encounter between Sathiyan and Payas, the latter had looked more likely to take the opening set, but Sathiyan mounted a comeback to snatch the set instead. Following that win, Sathiyan rode on the confidence he had gained from the opening essay to take the second set 11-8.
In the third set, Payas had a 5-3 lead, only for Sathiyan to make a comeback again, and eventually win the set 11-7 and the game 3-0, giving Delhi the decisive eight point.
Earlier, Sofia defeated Maria in the first women's singles game. After leading the first set, Sofia conceded the second set. However, the World No 43 won the match in a thrilling fashion, taking home the third set via a golden point.
Result: Dabang Delhi TTC 8 bt Ahmedabad APL Pipers 9-6.
