Eight-time world champion Pankaj Advani continued his fine run to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the third European Players Tour Championship (PTC) of the season, the Bluebell Wood Open, at Doncaster Dome in Sheffield. Advani notched up a series of wins en route to the round of 16.
On day one, Advani faced a tough opponent in Ebdon. Ebdon opened the best-of-seven frames with a century break of 112. Within minutes, Ebdon raced to a 2-0 advantage.
The Bangalore-based cueist then responded to level at two-all.
A 61 break in the fifth frame placed the Englishman a frame away from ousting his younger opponent. But at 2-3 down, Advani rose to the occasion and displayed great snooker to outclass the veteran cueist in the next two frames to win 4-3.
Up against Ian Burns next, Advani gave no room to his opponent to settle down and fired in two breaks of 57 in the first and third frames to blank him 4-0.
In the final match of the day, in the round of 32, Advani took on Rory McLeod and continued the onslaught of heavy scoring and with a break of 52, completed his second consecutive whitewash, winning the match 4-0 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
