Aditya Mehta banked on patience and composure to stun former World champion Peter Ebdon 4-3 in a three-and-a-half hour thriller and move into the second round of the £300,000 Indian Open snooker here on Monday.
Backed by the home crowd, Mehta, a World Games gold medallist, showed a lot of character to tame the seasoned 43-year-old professional in a roller-coaster first round encounter. The 27-year-old won 66 (50)-48, 69-51, 8-91, 122 (122)-1, 32-81, 73-85, 131 (127)-0.
Mehta made the most of Ebdon’s missed chances to take the first frame and soon widened the lead to 2-0. Ebdon, however, was in no mood to give up as he bagged the third frame before Mehta potted superbly to win the fourth with a massive break of 122.
The thinking Scot took his time as he exhibited his tactical game and made it 2-3. The penultimate frame seemed to be going in favour of Mehta, who at one stage was 41 points clear of Ebdon with a 73-32 margin. But, he could not grab the opportunity and Ebdon equalised in style to drag the contest to the decider.
Mehta showed nerves of steel and did not miss the opportunity this time. He dispassionately potted one ball after another to amass his second century break (127) and walk away the winner.
“I did not cue well, but my defence was good. I am happy to have matched Ebdon tactically,” said Mehta. “My family was watching me live for the first time and I avoided eye contact them,” he added with a smile.
Promising cueist Shivam Arora emerged as the best among the five Indian wildcards, who crashed out in the first half of the day.
The sixth wildcard, Dharmender Lilly, had already advanced to the first round after getting a walk-over.
Arora gave World No. 49 Anthony McGill a run for his money before going down 3-4. Arora banked on some good breaks to erase a two-frame deficit. McGill took a 3-2 lead, but Arora fought back to draw level again before losing in the decider.
World No. 1 Neil Robertson overcame a minor hiccup to register a commanding 4-1 victory over Noppon Saengkham and reach the second round. Robertson displayed his class and form to post three century breaks in a one-sided contest against the Thai.
The results:
Wildcard round: Rod Lawler bt Kamal Chawla 4-1 [58-51, 79-36, 54-71,70-40, 70-31]; Jeff Cundy bt Sandeep Gulati 4-0 [78 (52)-14, 62-57, 85(57)-0, 89 (88)-1]; Anthony McGill bt Shivam Arora 4-3 [58-57, 78-38, 45-85, 53 (53)-67 (54), 77-14, 24-75, 81-6]; Robbie Williams bt Manan Chandra 4-1 [69-56, 77-31, 70 (70)-1, 32-107, 65-40]; Paul Davidson bt Faisal Khan 4-1 [55-34, 38-72, 81 (76)-49, 61-16, 58-5].
First round: Neil Robertson bt Noppon Saengkham 4-1 [107 (103)-0, 104(103)-14, 54-55, 122 (55, 67)-1, 124 (103)-1]; Mark Joyce bt Sean O’Sullivan 4-0 [71-44, 109 (63)-21, 92 (55)-21, 123 (114)-0]; Dechawat Poomjaeng bt Ryan Day 4-2 [108-6, 78-15, 10-73, 0-79, 90 (52)-0, 75(58)-6].
Ricky Walden bt Gerard Green 4-0 [69-10, 58-31, 73 (61)-45,83 (83)-16]; Zhang Anda bt Alan McManus 4-1 [61-34, 69 (68)-0, 0-65,70-19, 59-54]; Michael Holt bt Jamie Cope 4-1 [68-51, 34-73 (59), 71-51, 82 (82)-2, 56-55]; Aditya Mehta bt Peter Ebdon 4-3 [66 (50)-48, 69-51, 8-91, 122 (122)-1, 32-81, 73-85, 131 (127)-0].
