Defending champion Geet Sethi made a late charge against England's [Images] Mike Russell but failed to cross the semi-final hurdle at the World Professional Billiards title in Leeds on Sunday.

The eight-time title holder suffered a 1231-1835 loss to Russell, also an eight-time winner of the title, in the semi-finals at the Northern Snooker Centre.

Russell was 1265-219 up in the first session, which also included four breaks of 326, 236, 242 and 261. Sethi managed a break of 119.

The Indian veteran came back stronger in the second and final session to score 1012-570, notching breaks of 101, 192, 335 and an unfinished 202. He left very little scope for Russell, who had an unfinished break of 81.

However, his late charge could not help as the Briton had already done enough to secure his place in the final.

Russell set up the title clash with compatriot Chris Shutt, who beat David Causier 1698-1464, for a repeat of 2005 final.

Six other Indians, including debutant Pankaj Advani, were ousted in the earlier rounds.

Advani, the IBSF World billiards champion, was defeated by Shutt in the quarter-final, while Devendra Joshi made an exit after losing to Sethi in their last eight stage.

Ashok Shandilya, Alok Kumar, Sourav Kothari and Dhruv Sitwala lost in the preliminary rounds.