The defending United States National Snooker Champion, Ahmed Aly Elsayed, has suffered a semifinal defeat at the hands of former champion Ajeya Prabhakar in this year's event at the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California.

The loss will come as a bitter blow to the three-times winner Aly as he has won every Championship he has played in, and now that unblemished record has now been broken by the 2000 Champion Prabhakar who had to deal with two painful final defeats at the hands of his New York City opponent in the past three finals.

It appeared that it would be the same old story for Prabhakar when Aly went into a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven frames tie, but Prabhakar has been a master of the semifinal comeback as in both the 2009 and 2011 semifinals he fought back to win from 3-0 deficits.

However, instead of pushing on from such an advantageous position, Aly's game imploded as he repeatedly missed opportunities and Prabhakar comfortably took the following three frames to go 3-2 up.

The pressure now was really on the reigning champion though he seems to thrive in these situations and has always come out on top. In a protracted sixth frame, it looked as though Prabhakar would finally seal Aly's fate, but he forged an immense comeback to pocket a long final black after a bought of safety play and he punched the air in delight.

In the final frame, Aly presented a number of good early chances for Prabhakar and he took a 30-0 point lead from them which would prove to be invaluable to the Californian as his opponent was always chasing the frame from then on.

One of Aly's notable qualities however is his determination and you can see it in his face with each shot he takes. He managed to take the frame right down to the final pink and black of which he required, but a bad miss on the pink ball left Prabhakar with a tough long pot to take frame and match.

Prabhakar got down on the shot and stroked the pink into the pocket in tremendous fashion for a very hard fought but deserving 4-3 victory.

Prabhakar will face his practice partner at Shoreline Billiards in Mountain View, California, in the final, as Sargon Isaac, who has been the revelation of this Championship, won his semifinal against the former champion Jack Kung 4-1, which was broadcast live over the internet.

Isaac took the first frame assisted by a break of 47, but in fairness Kung threw away the following two frames which he had in the bag only for Isaac to pinch them both from him.

After trailing in both frames, Isaac stole frame two on the final pink and he won a respotted black with a fantastic long pot to go 3-0 ahead.

Kung won a consolation fourth frame very easily after some good play, the first frame Isaac has lost in this Championship, but he had left himself far too much to do as Isaac returned the favor in frame five to wrap up the match.

The complete semifinal results are as follows:

Semifinals (Best-of-7-frames)
Match ID	Player		Player
SF1	Jack Kung (California)	1 - 4	Sargon Isaac (California)
SF2	Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York)	3 - 4	Ajeya Prabhakar (California)

The Final is as follows:

Final (Best-of-9-frames)
Match ID	Player		Player
F	Ajeya Prabhakar (California)	vs.	Sargon Isaac (California)

The final of the 2012 United States National Snooker Championship between Ajeya Prabhakar and Sargon Isaac is underway and is currenty be streamed live over the internet.

» Live stream link

The winner and the runner-up from the Championship will gain automatic selection to represent the United States in this year's IBSF World Snooker Championship, which is to be held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, from November 4-16.

Sponsors of the Championship include Tweeten Fibre Inc., manufacturers of some of the best known cue tips and chalk brands in snooker, and Saluc, manufacturer of Aramith Tournament Champion Snooker Balls, who have been a long-term supporter of snooker in the United States.