Australian Goldfields Open 2011 - Day 2

21:16:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Matt Selt too good for John Higgins
Another day in Bendigo, Australia and some more surprises for the fans of snooker, as the current world champion John Higgins was defeated 5-4 by the "first time on TV" Matthew Selt, after he was leading the Englishman 4-1. At the same time, the Captain Ali Carter lost the battle against the Scot Marcus Campbell 5-3, so both him and Higgins will be heading home after a very tiring month of snooker.


It was morning ... too early for many of us on the old European continent, but Down Under the sun was shining and the players were eager to compete and win their matches. The first two snooker encounters of the second day were the one between Dominic Dale and wild-card Steve Mifsud and Shaun Murphy and Rory McLeod.
With the great form that "The Magician" Murphy showed us to be on lately it wasn't too much of a surprise to see him defeating McLeod 5-1, while the greatest singer and snooker player of them all, Dominic Dale was winning 5-2 over Mifsud.


Not focusing enough, Higgins has to retun home
Soon after these matches were over, Ali Carter and Marcus Campbell were occupying their places on Table Two, while John Higgins and Matthew Selt were starting their cue battle on Table One - the televised one.


While Carter and Campbell were sharing frames, until Campbell was ready as to fly solo and win by 5-3, Higgins and Selt's snooker meeting was going on in a very different way. Even though it was clear that the Scotsman wasn't as focused as he used to be last season, he managed to make his way and lead Selt 4-1. It seemed like the four-time world champion was going to win this match in order to book a snooker meeting his country-man, Stephen Hendry, but that didn't happen after all, for some pretty horrible mistakes from Higgins were perfectly turned into winning chances by Selt, who won one frame at a time as to tie at 4-4 and win one more to eliminate the biggest man of the moment from the Australian Goldfields Open.


Neil Robertson had a great start
After his match Higgins said it was pretty hard to get some rhythm during the World Cup and that he hasn't put so much time into practicing after winning the world title, preferring to spend some time with his family. However, we have his promise things will change soon. ;-)
On the other hand, Carter confessed he was exhausted by playing in three consecutive tournaments and declared he misses deeply his 18 months baby that he hasn't seen for three weeks. Of course, we all know that a good spirit and a clear mind have a huge impact on a player's standard, so hopefully after taking a bit of rest and start hitting the ball on a regular basis we shall see these two magnificent lads back on track.


A very interesting match, which personally I would have loved to see (but it wasn't covered), was the one between two great players: Mark Allen and Ryan Day.
Although Allen took the first two frames with a top break of 60, the mid-session interval was going to find the boys all square at 2-2, as Day hit in runs of 89 and 53. The game was on!


The 007 Agent of snooker is out of the tournament
Carefully collecting 76 points off the snooker table, Allen was putting his nose in front again, but Day responded by winning the next frame to draw at 3-3. It seemed like they were going all the way to a decider. Again, I was wrong. Allen managed to win the 7th frame as to take the lead once more, this time his opponent not taking revenge. A great 147 attempt (ended only on a 72) was clearing the way to victory for Mark. With a 5-3 final result, Allen beats Day to get his well deserved spot into Last 16.


A very nice surprise has come from Neil Robertson, the local star that seemed to be having a ball playing in front of his countrymen. He faced the 007 Agent of snooker, Nigel Bond and did a terrific job in winning the match by 5-2.
It all started a bit scrappy, but it soon turned out to be a really good snooker show, for Robbo had a very solid performance and with breaks of 32, 59, 53 and 48 impose his dominancy over poor Nigel Bong, who succeeded to win only two frames.


Well, well wasn't that something? The second day? With great names like Judd Trump, Martin Gould, Peter Ebdon, John Higgins and Ali Carter out of the tournament, it's time for the youngsters to show what they can do and entertain the public. ;-)


The third day match schedule can be checked below:


From 04:00 (UK time)
18. Mark Williams v. Barry Pinches
14. Stephen Maguire v. Ken Doherty
followed by:
11. Mark Selby v. Joe Perry
13. Matthew Stevens v. Liang Wenbo


From 10:30 (UK time)
19. Matthew Selt v. Stephen Hendry
10. Ding Junhui v. Stuart Bingham


TV coverage:
10:30 - 13:30 British EuroSport 2

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