E. Pandurangaiah and Rajiv Inuganti executed their plans well to seal their respective berths in the last-four stage of the ongoing Telangana Open Snooker Championship played here. Pandurangaiah defeated Balakrishna 5-2 to put brakes to his journey in quarterfinals. The winner started the match on a winning note and took the first frame at 76-39. However, Balakrishna bounced back hard to level the frames tally at 1-1 after winning the second with 73-49 score. The next two frames saw similar outcomes as both Pandurangaiah and Balakrishna remained on equal foot after four frames. However, Pandurangaiah soon switched in top gear and clinched three frames in a row to corner Balakrishna and finish on top.
In another quarterfinal match, Ravi Inuganti won a thriller. The scores displayed 62-24, 29-57, 9-89, 116-14, 59-56, 31-60, 72-35, 41-70, 58-24. Rajiv and Ajay were indulged in a tense encounter as both the players were breathing down on each other’s neck. With eight frames over, both players had four each in their kitty. But Rajiv unfolded his top cue skills in the decider frame to win it with a convincing 58-24 score to emerge winner.
Meanwhile, in the pre-quarterfinals, Durga Prasad blanked Tarun Gupta with a 4-0 score. The scoreline read 67-37, 72-18, 71-41, 54-5. Durga played aesthetic Snooker and had everything under his control right from the beginning. He pocketed the first three frames to corner Tarun with the scores displayed 67-37, 72-18 and 71-41. In the fourth frame too, Durga was in no mood to compromise with his ‘A’ game as he dominated Tarun with 54-5 scores to progress further. In the other match, Vishal Agarwal dished out a 4-1 victory over K. Venkatesam while Lucky Vatnani dodged Naresh Kumar with 4-3 score to emerge winner.
The Results:
Quarterfinals: E. Pandurangaiah bt Balakrishna 5-2 (76-39, 49-73, 73-33, 59-68, 73-17, 66-23, 47-23); Rajiv Inuganti bt Ajay Bhushan 5-4 (62-24, 29-57, 09-89, 116-14, 59-56, 31-60, 72-35, 41-70, 58-24). Pre-quarterfinals: Vishal Agarwal bt K. Venkatesam 4-1 (69-38, 89-9, 42-52, 66-55, 59-38); Lucky Vatnani bt Naresh Kumar 4-3 (65-13, 21-66, 61-41, 44-60, 51-58, 51-49, 57-23); Himanshu Jain bt Abid Ali 4-2 (54-16, 24-56, 67-32, 71-34, 46-61, 62-52); Durga Prasad bt Tarun Gupta 4-0 (67-37, 72-18, 71-41, 54-5).
