Bhaskar, Murthy in title tilt

Both cueists post identical 4-0 wins in semifinal ties

In the first semifinal played at the KSBA Hall, Bhaskar completely outplayed D Rajkumar 4-0, while Murthy made short work of IH Manudev in the other last four encounter, also registering a similar 4-0 victory.

Bhaskar kick-started proceedings in style, securing the first frame 154-0 with an unfinished break of 154, before rattling southpaw Rajkumar with a break of 123 in the next frame that he eventually took with ease 153-8.

Completely submerged by the dominance of Bhaskar, Rajkumar did make a fight of it in the third, but Bhaskar held his own to clinch it 152-112 aided by a break of 63 and rode on another break of 82 in the fourth to clinch it 152-23 and complete a whitewash.

Like Bhaskar, Murthy too faced few problems in powering past his opponent.

He blazed past Manudev 150-89, 151-31, 150-91, 150-82 to keep plenty in reserve for Saturday’s final.

Results: Senior, semifinals: B Bhaskar bt D Rajkumar 4-0 (154 unf-0, 153 (123)-08, 152 (63)-112, 152 (82)-23); BVS Murthy bt IH Manudev 4-0 (150-89, 151-31, 150-91, 150-82).
Fifth-eighth place play-offs: Arvind Savur bt Duncan Mackenzie 2-1 (72-150, 150-34, 150-28); C Ravindranath bt MS Arun 2-0 (151-146, 150-56); Savur bt Ravindranath 2-0 (150-64, 151-83); Mackenzie bt Arun 2-0 (152-39, 151-97). Junior: Amit Ahuja bt Supreeth 423-235; Shazan bt Niranjan 338-325; Lakshman bt Rishi 409-277; Avinash bt A Sait 266-230; Zia Ur Rehman bt Prateek P 318-208.