After brushing aside Shah 3-1, Gilchrist outclassed favourite Pankaj Advani 4-3 in the quarterfinals.
The Indians were a bit worried about the presence of Peter Gilchrist before the start of the tournament, and quite justifiably so. For, the two-time World billiards champion can be a dangerous customer.
The tall Gilchrist, on a comeback trail after becoming a Singapore citizen, proved he has not lost any of his old touch when he notched two brilliant wins over the two Indians in the Asian Billiards Championships here on Tuesday.
First, it was Rupesh Shah's turn to feel the heat in the morning. Faced with a must-win situation, Gilchrist brushed aside Shah's feeble challenge 3-1 to make the knockout.
In the quarterfinals at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation hall later in the evening, Gilchrist outclassed favourite Pankaj Advani 4-3. In the semifinals, the 39-year-old meets the winner of the Nguyen T Long and Aung Sun Oo clash. In the other semifinals, Aung Hyay takes on T Sujaritthurakarn. While Htay accounted for Shah 4-1, Sujaritthurakarn prevailed by a similar margin in an all-Thai tie against Udon Khaimukh.
For the first time since the inception of the Asian Billiards Championships, no Indian will be figuring in the business end of things.
Figuring in the business end of things surely must have been a distant thought for Advani after he crashed to a stunning 1-3 defeat at the hands of Htay in the league. When the Bangalorean took the table in the crucial clash against Gilchrist, he seemed to let that defeat play on his mind.
He was tentative right through and his body language suggested he was just not up for a fight. To make matters worse, Gilchrist was firing on all cylinders. Under pressure, Advani's confidence took a bit of a beating and he was guilty of committing the cardinal sin of getting up on the shot.
In the 100-up format, the key is to keep the errors to the minimum. There simply are no escape routes, at least not against a player like Gilchrist. The Singapore cueist feasted on the generous offerings to take firm control of the proceedings.
Gilchrist took the first with runs of 60 and 45. Cashing in on another Advani error in the second, the 39-year-old rifled in a break of 60. A flowing unfinished 102, of course on an Advani error, helped Gilchrist move 3-0 up in the best-of-seven-frame tie.
But the complacent Gilchrist took his foot off the pedal to allow Advani into the game. The Indian, though not in total control, pulled one back with a break of 70. "For a moment, I thought I had already won it," Gilchrist said after the match.
It was Gilchrist's turn to commit errors and Advani's turn to make capital of it. The Indian took the fifth and the sixth as well with a brilliant effort, playing a series of recovery shots from down 26-86 and push the issue to the decider.
It was too good to last. Advani missed an ambitious long red pot to the top left-hand pocket and Gilchrist punished that error with a sizzling unfinished 88 to make the semifinals on his first appearance.
Semifinal line-up: Peter Gilchrist (Sing) vs Nguyen T Long (Vie)/ Aung Sun Oo; T Sujaritthurakarn (Thai) vs Aung Htay (Myn).
