From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 11:00 PM IST

Veteran Yasin Merchant of Maharashtra showed why he can never be discounted as he demolished top seed and India No.1 Manan Chandra (Petroleum SBB) 5-1 en route to the final of the Madras Gymkhana Club's All-India invitational snooker tournament here Thursday night.

In the final Friday, Merchant, the 42-year old businessman from Mumbai, will take on Aditya Mehta (Petroleum SBB) who wore down Sourav Kothari (PSBB) 5-2 in the other semi-final that lasted all of three hours.

Merchant, who won the last of his three National titles in 2001, was in peerless touch, displaying the aggression and potting ability that once made him the most feared player in the country.

A break of 100, his second in the tournament, in the second frame marked Merchant's fluent performance as he punished the 28-year old Chandra for every error the Delhi-based player committed.

The only bright spot in Chandra's game tonight was the 64 clearance in the fifth frame, in reply to Merchant's 66 in the previous.

But Merchant, twice Asian champion in 1989 and 2001, came up with two small but useful breaks in the sixth frame, wrapped up the fast paced match that lasted about 90 minutes.

On the adjacent table, Mehta and Kothari were involved in a tense battle of attrition that reflected the safety-first tactics of both players.

Overall, Mehta, who had a stint on the professional tour with a best ranking of 84, looked the better all-round player on the day's showing while Kothari, was far too inconsistent to fancy his chances.

Mehta finally finished the match with a 45 break in the seventh frame and also got away with a blue in-off in the closing stages when Kothari needed a snooker.

The results (semi-finals):

Yasin Merchant (Maharashtra) bt Manan Chandra (Petroleum Sports BB) 5-1 (54-43, 100-09, 66-2, 84-43, 55-76, 66-16). Aditya Mehta (PSBB) bt Sourav Kothari (PSBB) 5-2 (64-53, 48-62, 69-31, 68-16, 23-93, 67-0, 65-51).

(Staff Writer, © IANS)