KARACHI, May 13: Seasoned rivals Saleh Mohammad and Mohammad Yousuf will clash in the final of the 9th ranking snooker championship 2005 on Saturday at the Karachi Gymkhana after they beat their respective opponents in close matches.

Top seed Saleh ended the challenge of unranked Raees Khan 5-3, while the former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf, third seeded in the tournament, had to bring out his best in finally overcoming seed No.2 Naveen Perwani 6-4.

Saleh began his campaign to reach the final in style winning the first three frames on the trot, studded with a break of 50 in the opener.

Raees fighting back cut down the deficit 1-3, taking the fourth frame 54/34 and was leading in the fifth, when play was held up for over 25 minutes due to Saleh’s argument with the referee when he played a shot which kissed the yellow ball, the referee declared the shot a foul. Saleh was not too happy with this.

After over 25 minutes had passed away, sanity finally prevailed and Saleh came back on the table after he conceded the fifth frame to allow Raees claw his way up closer 2-3.

Chalking up a break of 62, Saleh increased his frame score 5-2, grabing the next two frames, only to see Raees bounce back winning the eighth 66/40 and Saleh in front 5-3.

The top seed now in full throttle, scored with every visit to the table to win the ninth frame 54/39 to come through a 6-3 winner.

In the other semifinal, Yousuf won the first frame with utmost ease 72-2.

Settling down Naveen grabbed the next three frames to take a comfortable 3-1 lead, with breaks of 50 and 52. Yousuf with worry written all over his face fought back magnificently to draw abreast 3-3, only to see Naveen forge ahead again 4-3.

Many watching the proceedings were of the opinion that Yousuf was sinking fast, but the wily campaigner saved his best for the last three frames.

Potting excellently the former world champion pinched the match by a 6-4 scoreline.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Naveen made short work of Shehram Changezi 5-0, with fine breaks of 63 and 43. Saleh after a keen tussle, got the better of Abu Saim 5-2, after Abu lost the fourth and fifth frames on the last black ball after securing a 2-1 lead.

Unseeded Raees helped on with a break of 46, toppled eighth seed Inamur Rehman in a 5-4 thriller which lasted four hours and five minutes.

Yousuf was progessing along fluently leading fourth seed Imran Shehzad 4-1 with breaks of 49 and 42.

But Imran was not going down in a hurry, with splendid breaks of 46, 44 and 57, he moved closer 3-4. But this was to be his last hurrah.

Getting down to brass tacks, Yousuf resuming his winning ways picked up the 10th frame 68/1, when Imran threw in the towel, with two reds and the coloured balls to pot.

Results (quarterfinals): Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Shehram Changezi (Punjab) 5-0: 73/63, 66/22, 63/18, 72/15, 80/14. Raees Khan (Punjab) bt Inamur Rehman (NWFP) 5-4: 28/72, 27/65, 61/51, 22/69, 65/0, 33/59, 57/13, 58/49, 75/53. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 5-3: 76/42, 16/79, 68/7, 63/51, 76/56, 8/101, 59/71, 69/1. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 5-2: 80/0, 8/96, 10/92, 56/49, 58/52, 91/21, 69/64.

Semifinal: Mohammad Yousuf bt Naveen Perwani 6-4: 75/2, 23/88, 54/56, 4/83, 87/15, 72/39, 53/55, 70/24, 59/44, 62/25. Saleh Mohammad bt Raees Khan 6-3: 86/45, 68/40, 70/29, 30/54, 7/69, 100/7, 72/56, 40/66, 54/39.

Final: Saturday from 2.00 p.m. in the best of 11 frames.