Players Tour Championship Event 2 2011 - Day 1

Dave Harold never gives up the fight

The first day of the main event has been quite a long one, the last match being finished somewhere around 00:30 (UK time). However it was all worth it because we had some really good matches going on, sprinkled with surprises here and there.


One of the surprises I was telling you about is Dave Harold. The strategist with a unique cuing style and a considerable experience in the snooker field managed to whitewash a very powerful Ben Harrison 4-0, ended Nigel Bond's dream with a determined 4-2, only to close the day with another perfect scoreline of 4-0, this time the victim being the one and only, Steve Davis. 

It was quite a shock, since Davis had a really great run during this PTC, by beating both of this first opponents 4-1 (Scott MacKenzie and Gerard Greene), but somehow that bursting energy and excellent cueing didn't last all day long and maybe that fatigue did its thing. Still, all credit to Dave Harold - this man is a phenomenal when he gets playing rhythm.

The Nugget goes home

Quite a shock to see Mark Williams out too, the Welshman although winning his first match against Callum Downing by 4-0, lost the second battle in a decider, 3-4 with Ken Doherty. However, Ken didn't seem to get too much of this last victory, the following match being lost 2-4 in front of a more focused Jamie Burnett.


Craig Steadman had a great run yesterday kneeling the legend Jimmy White 4-2 and ending on a tight 4-3 with Ricky Walden, but sadly lost his last chance to qualify, Xiao Guodong 's 4-2 scoreline putting an end to his run. And since I mentioned Ricky Walden, I must say I was pretty impressed with the lad's performance. We all know that the poor man doesn't seem to win anything these days, but he did manage to hammer Tian Pengfei 4-1 (which is pretty awesome if you think about it) and to end on a decider with Steadman ... well, that's not bad either. Hopefully he'll continue to improve his playing and we'll see more victories in his pocket soon (he really needs them!).

Ryan Day is in "the zone"

One of the players that tends to play like the king of the snooker arena when he's in "the zone" is Ryan Day. The Welshman had a really spectacular first day in Gloucester after beating Oliver Brown 4-0, Mike Dunn 4-1 and Simon Bedford 4-1 and if he keeps going like that he could be a favourite for the big prize. ;-)
Jak Jones succeeded to qualify for the Last 16 as well, scorelines like 4-2 with Anthony Hamilton, 4-2 with James Wattana and 4-1 with Sam Craigie, putting his name on the next round, while Ding Junhui, although not in the best form of his life, has managed to win all his three cue battles by hammering Daniel Wells 4-1 and ending on a 4-2 final result with both Kyren Wilson and Marcus Campbell.

Graeme Dott is focusing on improving his game

Surprisingly, Rory McLeod wasn't the last player to finish his match and I'm actually proud to say it didn't take him too long to cash one victory after another, whitewashing Matthew Day 4-0, hammering Ben Woollaston 4-1 and ending on a tight 4-3 with the Belgium’s prodigy Luca Brecel.
At the same time, the Scot Graeme Dott proved he's in quite a good form, as he beat Kurt Maflin 4-2, crashed Duane Jones 4-0 and, as his predecessor, ended his day with a decider, 4-3 with Tom Ford.


Ironically, the highest break of the tournament (so far) has been made by players that are no longer in the competition, James Wattana scoring a beautiful 140 in his match against Alan McManus, while Barry Pinches hit the same one, in his way to a maximum attempt, that sadly wasn't turned into reality due to a very stubborn last black.


Below you can check Day 1 list of results:


9am


Not before 11am


Not before 1pm


Not before 3pm


Not before 5pm


Not before 7pm


Not before 9pm


Todat's schedule:


9am


Not before 11am


Not before 1pm


Not before 3pm


Not before 5pm


Not before 7pm


Not before 9pm
*all hours are UK time