<p>BVS Murthy, B Bhaskar and Balaji Reddy also posted victories in their quarterfinal matches at the KSBA hall.<br /><br />The 34-year-old Manudev, playing in a State-ranking tournament after a gap of nearly eight years, showed good intensity and focus early to jump to a 3-0 lead. Just when things began to slip away, the 27-year old Katrela stepped up the gas to apply brakes on Manudev’s runaway march by grabbing the fourth and fifth frames.<br /><br />But the experience of Manudev came in handy as he polished off his opponent in clinical fashion in the sixth.<br /><br />Despite coming after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Sajan Boppana, Manudev was at ease and took the first without a challenge after he broke away from 52-17 lead. Katrela did show maturity during the second frame but the man from Chikmagalur, given a chance at 50-10, took the frame in superb style.<br /><br />Manudev barely broke a sweat in the third frame, but was caught napping when Katrela staged a recovery of sorts in the fourth. Trailing by 15 points, Katrela potted with ease and even managed to draw 12 points from Manudev’s fouls. The Bangalorean stunned Manudev with a series of very intricate snookers, drawing him into couple of more fouls before clinching his first frame.<br /><br />At the beginning of the fifth, the cueists were tied at 45-45, but Katrela showed class to jump to a 10-point lead. Manudev handed Katrela a couple of easy points but made it up when he rallied to make 24 points on a stretch. Manudev eyed at finishing the match with the score at 77-71 but Katrela potted the pink and the black balls to make it 2-3. Manudev demolished Katrela’s hopes of pushing it to the decider when he crafted a 36 to clinch the sixth frame and the match. <br /><br /> BVS Murthy bt Ajay Bhushan 4-1 (49-62, 52-31, 74-60, 58-25, 66-9); B Bhaskar bt MS Arun 4-1 (61-22, 73-47, 63-60, 35-71, 67-10); IH Manudev bt Vinay Katrela 4-2 (70-27, 79-26, 61-16, 31-71, 73-84, 74-39); Balaji Reddy bt D Raj Kumar 4-3 (72-42, 26-73, 57-68, 60-46, 82-24, 7-84, 84-71).</p>
<p>BVS Murthy, B Bhaskar and Balaji Reddy also posted victories in their quarterfinal matches at the KSBA hall.<br /><br />The 34-year-old Manudev, playing in a State-ranking tournament after a gap of nearly eight years, showed good intensity and focus early to jump to a 3-0 lead. Just when things began to slip away, the 27-year old Katrela stepped up the gas to apply brakes on Manudev’s runaway march by grabbing the fourth and fifth frames.<br /><br />But the experience of Manudev came in handy as he polished off his opponent in clinical fashion in the sixth.<br /><br />Despite coming after a hard-fought 3-2 win over Sajan Boppana, Manudev was at ease and took the first without a challenge after he broke away from 52-17 lead. Katrela did show maturity during the second frame but the man from Chikmagalur, given a chance at 50-10, took the frame in superb style.<br /><br />Manudev barely broke a sweat in the third frame, but was caught napping when Katrela staged a recovery of sorts in the fourth. Trailing by 15 points, Katrela potted with ease and even managed to draw 12 points from Manudev’s fouls. The Bangalorean stunned Manudev with a series of very intricate snookers, drawing him into couple of more fouls before clinching his first frame.<br /><br />At the beginning of the fifth, the cueists were tied at 45-45, but Katrela showed class to jump to a 10-point lead. Manudev handed Katrela a couple of easy points but made it up when he rallied to make 24 points on a stretch. Manudev eyed at finishing the match with the score at 77-71 but Katrela potted the pink and the black balls to make it 2-3. Manudev demolished Katrela’s hopes of pushing it to the decider when he crafted a 36 to clinch the sixth frame and the match. <br /><br /> BVS Murthy bt Ajay Bhushan 4-1 (49-62, 52-31, 74-60, 58-25, 66-9); B Bhaskar bt MS Arun 4-1 (61-22, 73-47, 63-60, 35-71, 67-10); IH Manudev bt Vinay Katrela 4-2 (70-27, 79-26, 61-16, 31-71, 73-84, 74-39); Balaji Reddy bt D Raj Kumar 4-3 (72-42, 26-73, 57-68, 60-46, 82-24, 7-84, 84-71).</p>
