Pankaj Advani won an engrossing battle of generations against Geet Sethi while Devendra Joshi whipped a lacklustre Alok Kumar to enter the semi-finals in the points-format event of the World Billiards Championship at Qawra in Malta, on Tuesday.
In the quarter-finals, which ensured two semi-final berths for India after four of their cueists in the last eight were pitted against each other -- Advani held his nerve to come from behind twice and beat the seven-time World champion 115-150, 149-44, 147-41, 83-147, 7-151, 147-41, 150-4, while Joshi thrashed Alok 150-86 147-2 151-116 150-142 to move into the last four.
The 19-year-old Advani will now take on the winner of the match between top seed Robby Foldvari of Australia and Phil Mumford of England.
In the other semi-final, Joshi awaits the winner of the match between Joe Grech of Malta and Australian Mathew Bolton.
Glimpses of a keen tussle between Advani and Sethi were on display from the first frame itself as the youngster registered a break of 69 only for the veteran to respond with an unfinished break of 83 to pocket the frame.
Advani then found his rhythm and compiled breaks of 109 and 75 in the second and third frames respectively to take a 2-1 lead.
But Sethi was not going to sit back as the champion cuiest came up with a break of 147 to level the scores and then made an unfinished 151 to move ahead.
Facing a do-or-die situation, Asian champion Advani first registered a break of 68 and then used safety play to his advantage and took the match in the decider.
In the ensuing final frame, Advani showed that he had nerves of steel as he first complied a break of 31 and then raced to an unfinished break of 119 to move into the semis.
In the other quarterfinal, Alok began with a flourish when he made a break of 63 in the first frame but it was Joshi from there on as he answered with a break of 136 to take the lead and then doubled the same with an unfinished break of 145 in the very next.
The former Asian champion looked like running away with the tie when he took a 63-0 lead in the third frame but Alok compiled two breaks of 49 and 40 to stay within catching distance but failed to finish the frame.
The fourth and final frame was the best chance Alok had to come back in the match as both players went for safety first approach but the cueist from Mandi Gobindgarh got a break of 83 to take a 55-142 lead.
But Joshi, who had dropped only one frame so far, had different plans as he grabbed the opportunity presented by Alok to compile an unfinished break of 95 for the honours.
In the pre-quarterfinals played late last night, Advani thrashed John McIntyre of Ireland 4-0 while Sethi survived some anxious moments before prevailing over Martin Goodwill of England 4-3.
In the all-Indian round of 16 matches, Joshi packed off Sourav Kothari 4-0 while Alok got the better of former World champion Ashok Shandilya 4-2. The seventh Indian in the fray, Dhruv Sitwala, went down to Bolton of Australia 4-2 in the pre-quarter-finals.
