Usman got off to a dream start by winning a close opening frame. As the formidable Siddharth Parikh of Railways got into the groove, Usman fell into a 1-2 deficit with the former narrowly snatching the second and third frames.

Usman again had his back to the wall in the crucial fourth frame as he stared at defeat with Parikh leading by a substantial 33 points. But, with the last red and the colours remaining, Usman stunned Parikh with a brilliant clearance to force the decider.

There was little hope of survival in the fifth and final frame as Usman trailed 17-39. But once again he saved the best for the last. Under immense pressure, he fired a significant break of 22 to level at 39-39, before snatching the frame and match in a black ball tie.

In another close third round encounter, young Arvind Mishra of Lucknow almost squandered a 2-0 advantage before fashioning an exciting 3-2 win over Prathamesh Sawant of Mumbai in a marathon contest that stretched to over two-and-half hours.

Octogenarian Tony Monteiro, who rallied to a thrilling 3-2 win in the previous round, continued his winning ways with a 3-0 rout of Deepak Khubchandani to book his place in the fourth round.

Other significant winners were PJ Hindu Gymkhana-Wilson Jones snooker champion Manish Adnani of CCI, Chandresh Shah of PJ Hindu Gymkhana and Neeraj Kumar of Bihar who registered 3-0 wins in the third round.

Results (3rd Rd)