Players Tour Championship Event 10 (2011) - Day 2

Chris Norbury - from the qualifying rounds to the Last 16

The first day of the main event ended late in the night, Holt and Selby being the ones responsible for keeping the snooker fans awake. However they weren't the only ones who finished their battles of cues so late, for MacKenzie, Woollaston, Norman and Norbury had plenty to play for and decided to prolong the suspense of who’s going to get a spot for the next round.

Can't blame the lads to be honest, because both Norman and Norbury have never reached this stage of the PTCs and they definitely haven't got a spot in the Last 16 ... until now that is. Of course that it wasn't possible for both of them to get one, especially since they played one another, but it became a reality for Chris Norbury. 

The 25-year-old lad from England managed to earn a place on the main event by winning two qualifying matches, and yesterday he defeated "The Sheriff of Pottingham" Anthony Hamilton 4-2, "The Welsh Dragon" Matthew Stevens 4-1 and a proud and very well trained member of the Pink Team, Andrew Norman 4-2. Now that's how you play snooker!

Scott MacKenzie, the Scottish player that got a place on the Main Tour due to his outstanding performances, was also a stranger from what the glorious "Last 16" round means. Unfortunately for him though, he will have to wait a bit longer for although he won the first two matches, he got whitewashed 4-0 by PTC 3 champion Ben Woollaston. 

Robbo and Higgins are thorugh to the Last 16

And now, the match that kept us wide awake all night long: Michael Holt v. Mark Selby. As expected it went all the way though the deciding frame. It all seemed to go Selby's way, since the player whose nicknames is "The Jester from Leicester" was leading 2-0, but Holty found the strength for a comeback. Once again, Selby put his nose in front at 3-2, but Holt fought back forcing a decider, decider that he won fair and square with a top break of 74.

Two word champions will continue to delight us with their snooker skills on Wednesday, as both Neil Robertson and John Higgins safely landed in the Last 16 round.
Robertson crashed Williams Lemons 4-0, took down Mark Allen 4-2 and hammered Gerard Greene 4-1 in the process, while Higgins started with a 4-2 against David Hogan, continued with a wise 4-1 against Adrian Gunnell and ended with a thrilling 4-3 against fellow-country and seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry. Top class!

A very nice surprise to see Jamie Cope booking himself a place for the next stage of this PTC, the lad winning 4-2 over Adam Wicheard, 4-0 over Nick Jennings and 4-2 over Liu Song, while Joe Perry seems to be back on "killing mood" after performing a 4-0 whitewash on Paul Metcalf and beating Matthew Couch 4-2 and Marco Fu 4-3. 

Well, I can't help on saying that the last match, the one against Fu, was a very close one, more since the Hong Kong resident is the player that hit most of the century breaks recorded yesterday (101, 103, 109, 120, 130), the last two being made in the match against Perry. But as always, a good set of century breaks doesn't automatically guarantee you a win.

Rory McLeod, the player that can easily be called the inventor of slow snooker (and I mean really slow snooker), got a place on the next round also by winning 4-0 over Sydney Wilson and 4-1 over Stephen Maguire and Nigel Bond. All great victories, if I may add.

Below you can check Day 2 list of results:

9am

Not before 11am

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Not before 3pm

Not before 5pm

Not before 7pm

Not before 9pm
Day 3 match 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