Champ gets the better of Kamal Chawla; Yasin beat Shabaaz Khan

Pankaj Advani set up a mouth watering final with Yasin Merchant at the ongoing CCI Platinum Jubilee Open in Mumbai on Thursday. The Bangalore lad saw off Kamal Chawla's challenge with ease as he won his race to 11 semifinal game 6-3 (30-81(42) 69(68)-29 72(44)-47(46) 74(51)-16 21-64 78(60)-7 85-28 56-64 63-40).

Chawla had got the better of veteran Alok Kumar in his previous match but said that playing Pankaj would be a completely different ball game.

The Bhopal-based Chawla took the first game with a break of 42 and some excellent potting. Advani realised that he would have to use a more defensive route. "I know for a fact that someone like Kamal can pot anything from anywhere. You may think it is not possible but he somehow manages to pocket the ball. So I employed a more defensive tactic," said Advani.

The 23-year-old took the second frame with a break of 68 and then went one up with another good break of 44 in the third. To add icing to the cake he hit a break of 51 to take the fourth frame 74-16. "I had some decent breaks throughout the game. Yes, not compared to the flawless ones in the first match (against Mayur Sanghvi) but as I said those things are just once in a blue moon," added Advani.

With Advani 3-1 up, Chawla needed to raise his game and he did just that as he closed the gap to 3-2 by taking the fifth. "I had only one thing to focus on and that was not to get stressed. So I knew that if I got a good break in the next, I would be able to hang on," said Advani.

And he did just that as he took the sixth frame with a crunching break of 60 and then the seventh 85-28.

Chawla pulled one back and even looked to further reduce it in the ninth but a mistake allowed Advani on the table who wrapped up proceedings. In the earlier semifinal, Yasin Merchant beat Shahbaaz Khan (66-20 70-31 66-43 44-69 50-57 60-26 53-30 82-3).

Dhruv Tikka/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication