Leeds: On a day of mixed fortunes for Indian cueists, Pankaj Advani and Balachandra Bhaskar were the ones left smiling, as they entered the World Billiards Championships (time format) semi-finals, here on Tuesday.

If it was another clinical performance by India’s poster boy of cue sports, Advani, who outplayed compatriot Rupesh Shah in the quarter final, then Bhaskar stunned the much-fancied Peter Gilchrist in the last-eight clash.

Advani, who has already won the 150-up points format title, looked unstoppable in the longer format as well, after he had a barrage of big breaks against Shah. He pocketed the match 916-665.

But it was another cueist from Bangalore, Bhaskar, who hogged the limelight after dispatching top Singapore cueist Gilchrist 797-561.

Bhaskar, with a highest break of 204, is eyeing his first world title. He will take on Robert Hall, who got past India’s Devendra Joshi 862-611, in the semi-final.

But the most awaited last-four clash will surely be between title contenders Advani and England’s David Causier, who had it easy against Dhruv Sitwala (1146-616) in the last-eight match.

Earlier in the day, Advani made it to the quarter finals after humbling compatriot Alok Kumar 1783-457 in the last-16 encounter.

With breaks of 135, 118, 701, 575 and 85, Advani mesmerised the audience as he got the highest break of the tournament (701) so far.

It was heartbreak for Sourav Kothari and Aditya Agarwal, whose winning run was broken in the pre-quarter finals.

Sourav, son of former world champion and national coach Manoj Kothari, was edged out by Gilchrist while Aditya was outplayed by Causier.