Panchal of Malabar Hill Club kicked off a day of close encounters when quite a few matches stretched into the decider.

Trailing 0-2 against CCI’s Gautam Jagtiani who was in good form, Panchal rallied to a 29-65, 18-78, 78-22, 69-64, 70-23 win.

After snatching the second frame with significant breaks of 40 and 30, Jagtiani looked set to cause an upset. But Panchal enjoyed a substantial lead to take the third frame and clinched the fourth narrowly.

In another close tie, Jagdale of North Indian Association upset formidable Kaizad Fitter of Bombay Gymkhana 53-10, 62-28, 8-58, 28-62, 71-59.

Jagdale squandered a 2-0 advantage after winning the first two frames as Fitter made a splendid comeback to force the decider.

The match could have gone either way as Jagdale trailed by 17 points in the fifth and final frame. But a brilliant clearance from the green saw him through as Fitter looked on helplessly.

Karan Dharni Dharka of CCI ended an exciting day with an impressive 60-31, 11-59, 32-76, 62-32, 57-47 win over Monu Choudhary of Delhi.

Faisal Khan of Railways, who won the Atlas 9-ball pool title in Mumbai recently, was the first to qualify for the second phase following a 104-0, 62-25, 74-8 fourth round win over Gaurav Prabhu that included a break of 104 in the opening frame.

Results (4th Rd): Faisal Khan (Rlys) bt Gaurav Prabhu 104(104)-0, 62-25, 74-8.