Aditya Mehta downs Pankaj Advani to enter Indian Open World Snooker semi-final
In a contest marked by excessive safety play, the pair was eventually separated in the seventh frame when Mehta came up with two solid breaks to close the match 4-3.
Aditya Mehta wore down Pankaj Advani 4-3 in a marathon match that lasted nearly four hours to enter the semi-final of the Indian Open World Snooker professional ranking tournament, here on Thursday.
In a contest marked by excessive safety play, the pair was eventually separated in the seventh frame when Mehta came up with two solid breaks of 38 and 33 to close the match.
In the semi-finals, Mehta will take on World No.5 Stephen Maguire from Scotland who took out England's Michael White 4-3, while Ding Junhui of China knocked out World No.1 Neil Robertson from Australia 4-2 to set up a clash with Robbie Williams, who scored an easy 4-0 win over Anthony McGill.
The 27-year old Mehta, ranked two spots below Advani at 72, kept his cool under intense pressure as the match swung one way and then the other as the players traded frames.
Eventually, it was 28-year old Advani who gifted away a red while playing a safety shot and Mehta pounced on the opening to win the match. There were just two half-century breaks, 51 and 55 by Mehta in the third frame that lasted 63 minutes.
World No.4 Junhui extended his domination over Robertson whom he had beaten in the final of the Shanghai Masters recently. In a rip-roaring match, the Chinese ace went 2-0 up on breaks of 72 and 52, but Robertson hit back through runs of 86 and 104 to level at 2-2 only to see Junhui take the next two with efforts of 85 and 91.
White's two century breaks of 133 and 125 could not stop Maguire from winning as the Scot was more consistent with runs of 90, 77 and 73 marking his progress.
Advani and Mehta had earlier survived nail-biting moments while getting past Stuart Bingham 4-3 and Mark Williams 4-2, respectively, providing plenty of thrills to the spectators.
The results:
Quarter-finals: Aditya Mehta (IND) bt Pankaj Advani (IND) 4-3 (29-70, 00-70, 68-82, 58-43, 65-24, 40-65, 72-00); Ding Junhui (CHN) bt Neil Robertson (AUS) 4-2 (96-04, 76-52, 00-86, 00-104, 85-10, 91-00); Robbie Williams (ENG) bt Anthony McGill (SCO) 4-0 (79-00, 70-54, 107-00, 75-26); Stephen Maguire (SCO) bt Michael White (ENG) 4-3 (29-60, 90-22, 00-133, 00-125, 78-00, 73-23, 52-47).