Players Tour Championship Event 10 (2011) - Day 3

Ricky makes his first 147

It is practically raining with maximum breaks in Sheffield. First it was Mike Dunn's 147 at the UK Championship qualifiers, then David Grey collected one during the qualifying rounds of the PTC 10, only to see Ricky Walden hit his maiden 147, yesterday, during the main PTC 10 event. 

But Ricky didn't stop there. He won 4-1 over Gareth Allen (the match that contained the brilliant 147 break), then continued with a 4-3 win over Mark King and ended his day with another close 4-3, this time against Mark Williams.

David Grace, the proud graduate of Q School Event One made the biggest breakthrough of his career by getting a place in the Last 16 after beating no more than three Pink Army members. His first victim was Mark Davis, whom he beat 4-3, then it came the 4-2 win over Liam Highfield and finished in great style with another 4-3 scoreline, this time against Jimmy Robertson. Great day for Grace, as well as a very hard one (as he himself said on Twitter).

"The Bulldog" Stephen Lee managed to book himself a place into the next round also by crashing Zak Surety and Marcus Campbell 4-0 and hammering Simon Bedford 4-1, while the Scot Graeme Dott started his day with a clean 4-0 obtained in front of Ashley Carty, continued on the same road this time kneeling down Michael Wasley and finished by seeing off the Irishman Fergal O'Brien 4-2.

David Grace in action

A really great surprise was to see "Spaceman" Dominic Dale, the snooker's best singer and entertainer, getting a spot next to the other lads in the Last 16 round after obtaining victories of 4-3 against his pink colleague Jamie Jones, of 4-2 in front of Shaun Murphy and of 4-1 AGAIN, in front of another pink comrade, this time his victim being Jamie O'Neill.

If you are wondering how long did it take to see all yesterday's matches being finished, I'm going to tell you: a lot. The last battle of cues was ended somewhere around 1.20am (UK time), which means 3.20am for me, so late in the night.
The last match was the one between Ken Doherty and Sam Baird, match that was succefully won by the 1997 world champion by 4-2. This victory along with a 4-0 over Ricky Norris and a 4-3 against Peter Lines guarantees him a place in the next round.

Still, probably the match that kept us all awake (or at least it kept me awake), was the one between Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill. It was such a tight and hard fought match from both sides. It was so tense and so close that the decider ended up on the black. The scoreline was 72-72 with only the little crazy black ball left on the table. Minutes were passing bye as players took turns and tried to pot it, in the end Wenbo being the one who prevailed. 

Dave Harold and Tian Pengfei

I can't end this bid without mentioning one hell of a player, a player that made it in the Last 16 round and that I would really love to see win a ranking event this season. His name is Dave Harold and although many of us find his cue action style a bit odd, he's a really great player. The safety shots he put against China’s Tian Pengfei were just amazing and that determination that he keeps on showing and the guts he has, are  ... well, words don’t do him justice. 

He's not at the age of making the people go "wow" anymore, but he sure has some of that geniality spark left. He beat Robert Milkins 4-3, Barry Hawkins 4-1 and Tian Pengfei 4-2, to safely fly all the way to the final stages of this PTC. Top class!

Below you can check Day 3 list of results:

9am
Not before 11am

Not before 1pm
Not before 3pm
Not before 5pm
Not before 7pm

Not before 9pm

Today, the action continues with:

Last 16:
10am
The quarter-finals: 
Not before 1pm
The semi-finals:
Not before 4pm

The Final:
Not before 7pm