``I'm thrilled,'' said the lanky Patel after upsetting the third seed Alok 4-2 in a best-of-seven frame encounter.

It was the second shock defeat for Kumar in the round robin league, having lost to unfancied Varun Taneja in the second round yesterday. The loss further marginalised his chances to qualify for the knockout (quarter-finals) round.

Though not the easiest of encounters, Alok looked off-colour as he tried for his shots and missed easy chances, something that even Patel can be accused of.

The match seemed to head towards an early end with Patel fighting his way home in the first two frames (60-47, 71-64) and easing though in the third (60-22).

But the battle intensified thereon as Alok forced his way ahead, edging past Patel in the next two rather close frames (51-43, 64-60). While Patel suffered a momentarylapse of form, Alok held on to a 39-36 lead. But a break of 11 tilted the balance in Patel's favour who sealed the frame at 64-39 with the black ball on the board. The win was, incidentally, Patel's first triumph over Alok Kumar in an Open tournament.

RESULTS (League, Round Three): 10-Nalin Patel bt 3-Alok Kumar 4-2 (60-47, 71-64, 60-22, 43-51, 60-64, 64-39); 1-Devendra Joshi bt Amit Khansaheb 4-1 (89-34, 52-71, 62-29, 69-42, 61-36); 4-Dharminder Lily bt 9-Siddharth Rao 4-2 (66-54, 55-40, 32-64, 35-48, 63-49, 48-38; Ashok Shandilya bt Amit Saboo 4-3 (0-86, 64-37, 35-69, 34-58, 71-46, 69-0, 67-45); Antim Singhi bt J S Dawer 4-3 (66-33, 11-70, 12-66, 55-28, 46-51, 66-19, 73-21); Chirag Ramakrishnan bt S A Saleem 4-3 (69-29, 40-51, 57-60, 16-62, 65-46, 62-33, 62-44); C Ravindranath bt Varun Taneja 4-1 (53-23, 80-25, 28-70, 62-10, 74-39); Kamal Tulshan bt Mukesh Rehani 4-3 (20-80, 62-19, 60-70, 87-40, 94-13, 1-71, 59-30).