Bangalore: Awadhe Warriors moved an inch closer to the semi-final spot after registering a thrilling 3-2 win over Mumbai Masters in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday. With this win, Warriors are now at the fourth spot with 12 points from the four ties that they have played till now.

Though Mumbai Masters lost the tie, they are still placed at first position with 15 points in five ties they have played so far and are tied with Hyderabad Hotshots. Hotshots still have one tie to stamp the authority.

Vladimir Ivanov started the proceedings for Mumbai Masters and managed to escape a scare against RMV Gurusaidutt who gave him a very tough fight but couldn’t do much against his body smashes. Ivanov won the match by 21-18, 20-21,11-9 in the 55 minutes and gave his team the head-start that was expected from him.

In the first game of the day, Ivanov started off with some very powerful smashes and took the lead of 7-4 at the first break but the Indian did well and managed to get 12-all. Ivanov finally won the first game 21-18.

Gurusaidutt managed to take a 12-7 lead in the second game but Ivanov found his rhythm to make it 19-all. However, Saidutt sealed the match by 21-20.

In the third game, Ivanoh was trailing by three points at 3-6. However, Gurusaidutt couldn’t hold his nerves and Ivanov managed to get better off him as Indian committed some unforced errors and poor judgement which changed the complexion of the match and Russian won it by 11-9.

The next match in the women's singles category was played between the iconic player of Awadhe Warriors, PV Sindhu, who defeated Tine Baun 21-12, 19-21, 11-8 to level the tie 1-1. PV Sindhu did justice to her recent form and finished off the first game in just 13 minutes as she won it by 20-12 against Tine Baun. Sindhu carried the same cool and calm continued of first set into the second and raced away to take an early lead of 7-5 but Tine fought hard and won 21-19, levelling the match at 1-1. She went ahead of Sindhu by 6-5 in the third game but the Hyderabadi came back strong and ultimately won the match by 11-8.

Warriors managed to take a lead with their pair of men’s doubles who won the third match. Markis Kido and Mathias Boe did the trick for Warriors as they registered a sparkling win by 21-16, 21-14 over Masters B Sumeet Reddy and Manu Attri.

In the second men's singles match, Masters responded well to the pressure situation and it was their iconic player, Lee Chong Wei, who sealed the fate of the match by beating K Srikanth 21-15, 20-21, 11-5.