Han Ying brought an end to Wu Yang’s 21- game unbeaten run in CEAT UTT on Friday, as the Challengers thrashed the table-toppers, Falcons TTC 16-11 at the Thyagaraj Stadium in Delhi.

The Challengers were off to a flying start, as Li Ping thumped the in-form Sanil Shetty, 3-0 in the first Match of the Tie. The Mumbai lad never looked comfortable and was struggling with his serves, as Ping cruised to an 11-7 win in the first Game. To add to his woes, Shetty made a lot of forehand errors and even struggled to return the Chinese paddler’s serve in the next two games. Without any discomfort, Ping grabbed the next two Games 11-7 and 11-5.

Wu Yang, who was yet to lose a game in the tournament faced India’s Mouma Das in the second Match of the Tie. The in-form Yang dominated the Match and never looked out-of-sorts in any of the games, as she earned a comfortable 3-0 win against Das to level the scores at 3-all for the Falcons.

Falcon TTC’s mixed-doubles pair of Sanil Shetty and Lee Ho Ching tasted their first loss in CEAT UTT, as they were trounced by Soumyajit Ghosh and Petrissa Solja, 3-0. The Challengers pair bagged the first two Games easily; 11-5 and 11-7, but had to save two match points in the third against the Falcons TTC’s duo to win 11-10.

After an impressive win against Sanil Shetty, Li Ping was back to the court to face Par Gerell in the fourth match of the tie. However, he couldn’t replicate his performance against Gerell, who was very aggressive on his forehand shots. Gerell bagged the first Game and after that, Ping couldn’t continue as he was suffering from an injury. Ping’s withdrawal meant that the Falcons collected all three points and the tie was levelled at 6-6.

In Match 5 of the tie, Petrissa Solja faced Lee Ho Ching, and the first Game saw some fantastic rallies from both players. Solja fought back from behind, but Lee held her nerve and took the first Game 11-10. After losing the first Game, Solja took control in the next two Games and won 11-8 and 11-5 to seal the deal and extend the team’s lead to 8-6.

Soumyajit Ghosh came back to the court for Match 6 of the Tie to face Liam Pitchford of Falcons TTC. The Indian looked solid in the first Game and won it, 11-6, but couldn’t capitalise the lead as Pitchford recovered brilliantly and won the tense second game, 11-9. Ghosh made a lot of unforced forehand errors in the final game and as a result, Pitchford bagged the Game, 11-3 to even things out in the Tie.

In Match 7, Han Ying, who has been unbeaten in a Match in CEAT UTT, faced the Indian rookie Priyadarshini Das. The latter was up to the task in the initial proceedings of the first Game but the German mixed his quality and experience with equal measure, and won the game 11-7. Ying had no problem in the next two Games, as she completed the clean sweep 11-7, 11-4 and 11-4.

With Falcons trailing 12-9, Liam Pitchford faced the in-form Andrej Gacina in the 8th Match of the tie. Pitchford was all over Gacina in the first two Games, as the latter was rushing with his shots and couldn’t have any control. Pitchford bagged the first two Games, before Gacina turned the tide in the third with a 11-6 victory, to extend the team’s lead to 13-11.

The final Match of the Tie between Wu Yang and Han Ying turned out to be possibly the best Match of the tournament so far, as both the players came up with some breathtaking table tennis shots and rallies. Unlike the other Matches, Yang was seriously tested by Ying throughout the Match. Ying’s defence was very strong and it forced Yang to commit a lot of unforced errors. The German was on the verge of bringing an end to Yang’s 21-game unbeaten run easily, when she stayed 10-6 ahead in the opening Game. However, Yang saved four match points and pulled it back from 6-10 to 10-10 with a ferocious cross court forehand. But Ying held the nerve and won the Golden Point, as the Challengers took an unassailable lead at 14-11. The second and third Games saw some scintillating, long rallies and one of them went up to 50 shots. Yang was 10-6 up in the second and third Games, but Ying never gave up and saved four match points to make it 10-10, before claiming a win in both the Games by Golden Point to end the Tie at 16-11. She handed Wu Yang her first defeat in both a Game and a Match in the CEAT UTT. Despite the loss, Falcons TTC continue to enjoy their top position in the league table.