Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani is on the verge of completing a hat-trick of consecutive Asian Billiards titles after putting up a stunning 5-0 win over Indian rival Sourav Kothari on Saturday for a place in the finals.
There was no mistaking Advani's domination over the billiards table, as he posted a century break in every frame of the match.
In the best of 11 frames final, Advani took the frame at the start with an outhouse century break, while Kothari could score only 29 points in his best effort.
Then, after a round of 101 in the second frame, Advani was relentless with another immaculate century break in the second frame, and Kothari could score 33 only.
The third, fourth, and fifth frame continued the show of his dominance as he kept coming up with scores of 101, 100, and 100 after a round of 38, 21, and 0 by Kothari.
Anupam had defeated another Indian, Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan in the quarterfinals also 5 — 0 earlier. Advani started off with a century break in that match even as Shrikrishna hit back bravely with a break of 78.
The all-decisive factor hence was Advani's mastery at constructing breaks, one in every frame. His first-century break was superseded by another in the second, where Shrikrishna could just manage 26 points.
Playing seamlessly, he continued with a break of 102 as the third frame went, while Shrikrishna could only manage 32 points. Advani ended the match with one more century break of 101, leaving Shrikrishna on just 2.
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