Former champion Pankaj Advani overcame two-time Asian champion Yasin Merchant to power into the semifinals of the Senior National snooker championships here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Advani, despite lack of match practice in snooker before the Nationals, carried far too many guns for Merchant en route to a 5-3 win in the best-of-nine-frame quarterfinal clash.
In the last-four stage clash, Advani takes on promising Sourav Kothari, a 5-4 victor over Rupesh Shah in another quarterfinal tie.
In the other semifinals, Manan Chandra will lock horns with Aditya Mehta. Chandra dethroned reigning champion Alok Kumar 5-3, while Mehta got the better of surprise quarterfinalist, Geet Sethi, 5-1.
Results: Men (Quarterfinals): Manan Chandra bt Alok Kumar 5-3 (53-40, 58-80, 10-56, 54-61, 74-63, 75-41, 78-41, 78-7); Pankaj Advani beat Yasin Merchant 5-3 (36-52, 61-58, 84-37, 66-38, 31-71, 37-52, 87-0, 89-29); Aditya Mehta  bt Geet Sethi 5-1 (74-68, 65-47, 30-64, 71-56, 95-8, 70-18); Sourav Kothari bt Rupesh Shah 5-4 (83-63, 25-75, 63-62, 38-69, 40-73, 75-4, 54-40, 29-72, 71-35).
Pre-quarters: S Kothari bt Brijesh Damani 4-1 (40-65, 67-26, 71-58, 71-34, 70-49); Rupesh beat Jhanjaria 4-1 (52-22, 26-73, 68-30, 81-28, 71-1); Y Merchant bt Antim Singhi 4-0 (81-0, 77-36, 67-11, 65-1); P Advani bt Ashok Shandilya 4-1 (48-72, 73-8, 63-19, 61-9, 43-7); A Mehta bt Lucky Vatnani 4-0 (57-22, 92-0, 61-31, 71-67); G Sethi bt Sarang Shroff 4-2 (32-118, 46-62, 54-53, 49-39, 65-34, 59-16); M Chandra bt Anuj Uppal 4-0 (85-22, 55-54, 74-65, 133-0); A Kumar bt Dhruv Sitwala 4-1 (66-25, 71-66, 53-67, 58-26, 72-38).