Cueist Mehta starts season with a win in Wuxi Classic

Indian cueist Aditya Mehta registered his first win of the season, notching up a 5-3 victory over Sam Baird of England in the opening round of the Wuxi Classic Qualifiers that kicked off at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.

Mehta displayed some tricky moves today as after losing a close opening frame, the Indian fought back with a 61 break and won two more frames back-to-back to lead 3–1 at the interval.

Although Mehta missed some opportunities post interval to allow Sam to claw back 3–3, he won a crucial seventh frame with a 40 clearance and sealed the match with a 70 break in the eighth frame.

"It was a good win to start off the season especially against a tough opponent. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's match," Mehta said.

Mehta will now play James Wattana of Thailand in the second round.