Advani cruises ahead

PSPB’s Advani, who notched up the tournament’s second-highest break of 112 on Thursday, followed it up with a 100 in the fourth frame to oust Venkatesham 84-16, 130-08, 69-22, 101-0 in a lop-sided contest.

Advani will lock horns with Neeraj Kumar, who beat Brijesh Damani 66-7, 54-45, 70-48, 30-75, 25-66, 74-58, in the pre-quarterfinal clash on Saturday. Karnataka’s IH Manudev and MS Arun also made it to the pre-quarters with hard-fought victories over R Lalrinsanga and Pushpinder Singh.

Results (round of 32): Sourav Kothari bt D Raj Kumar 4-2 (86-0, 50-78, 72-60, 36-97, 72-58, 64-14); Lucky Vatnani bt Shivam Arora 4-3 (73-41, 81-30, 21-54, 52-63, 14-57, 76-69, 61-20); IH Manudev bt R Lalrinsanga 4-3 (64-25, 52-60, 47-55, 74-27, 62-60, 22-60, 96-21); Shahbaz Khan bt Wasim Ahmed 4-3 (46-58, 59-73, 52-50, 27-64, 59-26, 91-33, 68-29); MS Arun bt Pushpinder Singh 4-2 (38-63, 70-24, 62-50, 72-11, 42-69, 73-66); Aditya Mehta bt Divya Sharma 4-1 (65-29, 76-0, 56-87, 74-40, 74-67); Rishabh Pandya bt Dhvaj Haria 4-2 (21-59, 96-0, 73-2, 73-27, 22-69, 64-14); Manan Chandra bt Vijay Nichhani 4-1 (120-9, 83-8, 101-1, 2-73, 44-35); Alok Kumar bt Shyam Jagtiani 4-0 (66-15, 64-38, 73-23, 71-57); Devendra Joshi bt Siddharth Parikh 4-1 (80-0, 70-52, 8-62, 79-0, 68-43); Kamal Chawla bt Balaji Reddy 4-0 (72-11, 63-8, 70-1, 61-24); Neeraj Kumar bt Brijesh Damani 4-2 (66-7, 54-45, 70-48, 30-75, 25-66, 74-58); Pankaj Advani bt K Venkatesham 4-0 (84-16, 130-8, 69-22, 101-0); R Girish bt Sundeep Gulati 4-1 (70-15, 76-14, 68-30, 31-66, 63-38); Anuj Uppal bt Faisal Khan 4-0 (54-42, 93-58, 75-22, 61-37); Yasin Merchant bt Rafath Habib 4-1 (64-9, 75-0, 83-55, 51-69, 53-42).