Somaiyajula turned around a 2-3 deficit and snatched the sixth and seventh frames on the black ball en route to a hard-fought 4-3 (26-9, 21-39, 52-22, 19-40, 33-46, 28-26, 32-26) win over Pankaj Nandenwar of Madhya Pradesh.
In another close contest, Premi overcame Manjeet Singh Bhomar of Maharashtra 4-2. Trailing 1-2 after dropping the third frame on the black, Premi initiated a late burst and sealed the win in a tight sixth frame, the scores reading 15-32, 54-6, 28-29, 48-18, 41-1, 29-23 in his favour.
The other significant winners on the first day of the tournament, being held under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM), were home state cueists Aditya Agrawal, Mahadeo Bhogle, Samay Wadhwan, Nikhil Ootam and state snooker champion Hasan Badami.
Results: Aditya Agrawal (Mah) bt K Sriniwas (AP) 38-16, 46-8, 32-34, 49-20, 17-37, 34-20; C Jadhav (Mah) bt Vimal Thakkar (Mah) 19-25, 27-26, 49-6, 22-35, 22-38, 36-22, 47-18; Pratyush Somaiyajula (Mah) bt Pankaj Nandenwar (MP) 26-9, 21-39, 52-22, 19-40, 33-46, 28-26, 32-26.
Mahadeo Bhogle (Mah) bt Aparajit Mittal (Mah) 32-31, 32-38, 35-29, 68-0, 39-35; Samay Wadhwan (Mah) bt Ashutosh Padhy (Ori) 38-36, 43-34, 2-36, 31-10, 31-11; Vipin Premi (UP) bt Manjeet Singh Bhomar (Mah) 15-32, 54-6, 28-29, 48-18, 41-1, 29-23; Iqbal Rokadia (Mah) bt Anish Jhaveri (Mah) 36-10, 45-38, 39-31, 9-38, 3-39, 53-52.
Divesh Gangwani (Mah) bt Farhad Tengra (Mah) 0-37, 34-23, 32-20, 42-33, 22-36, 43-9; Nikhil Ootam (Mah) bt Tehkam Alim (Mah) 46-10, 44-16, 50-9, 51-0; Dilip Kumar (TN) bt Rahul Sachdev (Mah) 67-0, 0-42(42), 47-9, 41-14, 35-9; Hasan Badami (Mah) bt Harsh Singh (UP) 38-7, 40-2, 41-8, 56-10; Cyrus Mistry (Mah) bt Kunal Kothekar (Delhi) 34-14, 25-36, 34-1, 48-8, 39-12.