Aditya Mehta is a cool customer. Nothing perturbs him. And he demonstrated it abundantly here today when he breezed past his opponents with consummate ease.

The manner in which he defeated Vipin Premi with a clinical precision 74-08, 79-48, 93-06 showed his ominous form and his intention to win the title. Though he could muster only small contributions of 52 and 54 the result of the match was never in doubt. Aditya was in control right through.

Dilip Kumar annihilated veteran Rupesh Shah 28-65, 94-00, 65-56, 00-83, 62-56 in a five-set thriller while Bharat Sissodiya beat Manish Jain 62-27, 21-94, 56-62, 79-43, 67-59.

Though Manish had amassed a run of 84 in the second frame but had the mortification to lose in a match which went to the wire.

Laxman Rawat had better of Ankit Kariwala 40-73, 68-29, 66-36, 70-03. Rafath Habib wriggle out against Manav Panchal 60-52, 74-16, 54-53. Rafath managed to sink black when it played truant on more than couple of occasion.

In women’s billiards, Vidya Pillai had an easy outing against Soumine S. 75-02, 69-07. Vidya had won an incredible 8 national titles in her illustrious career. She could have converted it into 13 but narrowly missed 5 times.

Former national champion Judy Walia also began well by beating P. Katiyar 69-09, 56-44.