Twice in arrears, Rungta rallied to an impressive 23-51, 51-29, 24-60, 44-16, 54-36 in an all-Mumbai contest that was one of the closest matches of the day.

In another second round tie that went the distance, Arjun Tejwani of Khar Gymkhana overcame a late challenge before registering an exciting 55-30, 58-45, 43-52, 34-44, 57-25 win over Vivek Tiwari of Lucknow.

Tejwani led 2-0 after taking the opening two frames in the best-of-five contest. But Tiwari came right back into the match by snatching the third and a black-ball finish fourth frame to force the decider.

Tejwani enjoyed an early lead in the fifth and held on to seal the issue.

Fancied Aditya Agrawal of Bombay Gymkhana beat Sahil Virmani of Pune 3-0 to join Rungta and Tejwani in the third round. After winning the opening two frames without much ado, southpaw Agrawal struggled in the third frame as Virmani led 45-29. But Agrawal came back into the match with a three-cushion snooker behind the black and narrowed the margin to 35-45.

After Agrawal’s counter-safety, Virmani sold the pink and the former potted the second-last colour to close in at 41-45. Agrawal later missed the black. But his horror Virmani experienced an in-off that allowed the former to take the frame and match 48-45.