Ricky Walden of England ended the home challenge when he defeated Aditya Mehta 4-2 and booked a berth in the pre-quarter-finals of the Indian Open World ranking snooker tournament, here Thursday.
The eighth ranked Walden took a firm grip on the match by jumping to a 3-0 lead and though Mehta, 50th in the rankings, made a brave fight back to win the fourth and fifth frames, he could not stop the 32-year-old Englishman from closing the match with two crucial breaks of 43 and 34.
"The difference in our rankings was fairly obvious tonight. I just could not compete better, especially in the first three frames. I did well to take two frames, but at the end of the day, you just can't let a top-eight player have such a start.
"I had my chances in the sixth frame, but did not capitalise on them and he came up with two great breaks to win the match. Ultimately, he played better and came up with some great shots," said the 29-year-old Mehta, a finalist in the previous edition in 2013.
The scores:
Ricky Walden (England) bt Aditya Mehta 4-2: 70 (63)-00, 78-27, 77-13, 18-73, 00-76, 81-00.
