KARACHI, Dec 2: Defending champion, Naveen Perwani, trailing 1-3 down, fought back to inflict a 5-3 defeat on Saleh Muhammad to cruise into the semifinals of the 9th KC Open snooker championship at the Amir Bux billiards hall, Karachi Club, on Friday.

Joining Naveen in the last four were Khurram H Agha, Muhammad Yousuf and Atiq Latif Bux who registered victories over their respective opponents.

Naveen had an unimpressive start losing the opener 14-69. However, he recovered to level the match one-all by taking the second frame 62-46 compiling a break of 46.

In a well-fought third frame Naveen again went down 54-66 to trail 1-2 in the best of nine frames battle. He conceded the next frame 5-75 as Saleh conjured up a break of 54.

From then on, Naveen put his act together taking the next four frames in a row 59-39, 54-40, 73-23, 65-30 with a break of 52 in the fifth.

Naveen now takes on Atiq who accounted for Sohail Shehzad 5-1. The scores were 78-23, 69-46, 61-46, 72-32, 7-74, 75-60.

Khurram Agha scored the first century break (110) in fourth frame before emerging 52-65, 84-0, 32-66, 111-12, 74-42, 86-0, 55-11 victorious against Salman Sheikh. He also chalked up splendid breaks of 50, 45, 86 and 55 in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh frames.

He meets Muhammad Yousuf who halted the winning run of qualifier Qasim Kamani disposing him of 5-0. The former world champion was home 68-18, 80-11, 83-9, 73-12, 65-30.

Results (quarterfinals): Khurram H Agha bt Salman Sheikh 5-2 (52-65, 84-0, 32-66, 111-12, 74-42, 86-0, 55-11); Muhammad Yousuf bt Qasim Kamani 5-0 (68-18, 80-11, 83-9, 73-12, 65-30); Naveen Perwani bt Saleh Muhammad 5-3 (14-69, 62-46, 54-66, 5-75, 59-38, 54-40, 73-23, 65-30); Atiq Latif Bux bt Sohail Shehzad 5-1 (78-23, 69-46, 61-46, 72-32, 7-74, 75-60).

Saturday’s fixtures: Khurram H. Agha v Muhammad Yousuf, Naveen Perwani v Atiq Latif Bux play semifinals at 4.00 pm.