World Seniors Championship 2011 - the quarter-finals

Steve Davis reaches the semis

Final day in Peterborough but we still quite a long way to go until we'll reach the final stages. However, the first step has been made as the quarter-finals sent the bravest gladiators of the green baize into the semi-finals.
Steve Davis, Darren Morgan, Jimmy White and John Parrott are the four names that started their day with the right foot and will hopefully continue to do so until the end of it.

The first match saw "The Nugget" Steve Davis taking on a player that travelled half the planet to get in the UK - New Zeeland's Dene O'Kane.  The ref at the table was the legendary John Williams. The cues were sharpened, the hearts were beating fast and so the battle began.

Unfortunately for New Zeeland's player the race stops here

It is said that the opening match of each tournament is the hardest, for the players are still not quite in "the zone" and crowd is not warmed up properly (well, this wasn't actually the opening match of the event, but you get my point). 

So, scrappiness was part of the equation for the first few minutes. That until Davis took the opener with a top break of 34. 

The second, and last frame for that matter, was a whole different story. The players were already warmed up so when Davis hit in runs of 28 and 63, his opponent had no other choice but to surrender. The six-time world champion was the first player through to the semi-finals. And may I add that he executed some really cracking shots in the process?!

Next in line were Darren Morgan and the "Grinder" Cliff  Thorburn. 

Darren Morgan takes down the legendary Cliff Thorburn

As expected, the first frame was "shared" if I may use this word, meaning that both players had equal chances to get it under their belt. Still, with runs of 37 and 20 Morgan was the one who broke the ice.

It must be said that Cliff had a couple of chances, the biggest one being when he was about to cross a 24 break's border. Sadly he potted the cue ball after rolling the green ball into its rightful pocket and so Darren took over.

The second frame started a bit scrappy as both lads seemed to struggle in making a steady break. But in the end, with a top break of 28, Morgan ended Canada's snooker ambassador's run with a final result of 2-0.

Jimmy White still kicking arse to defend his crown

The third whitewash of the day was performed by the one and only Jimmy White, also the defending champion. Dennis Taylor, although had a great start in this tournament was kneeled down by a final 2-0 result.

With a top break of 77 "The Whirlwind" did what was expected of him: to remain in the race for this year World Seniors Championship. But will he re-write last year performance? We'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out the answer to this question.


Last to get a spot next to the other three players in the semis is John Parrott. He played against a very determined Karl Townsend who seemed to have the game under control from the very first beginning.

It was a hard fought match for Parrott, but he did it!

First frame went Karl’s way, but the second one was cashed by Johnny. It was a tough battle of cues and each ball that was potted mattered. And as tradition calls it, when two players give their best – the decider takes over.

The 1991 world champion seemed nervous, but he was not the only one. A couple of misses found Townsend as nervous as his opponent. In the end though, John managed to put himself together and take advantage of Karl’s mistakes to win the frame and the match.

Below you can check the quarter-finals results:


From 7pm (UK time) on SkySports 4 the semis will kick-off and below you can see the draw.


Don’t forget that the final will be played tonight also, so by the end of the day we shall find out who’s the 2011 World Seniors Championship winner.