Welsh Open 2011 - Day 2 (part I)

20:49:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Another win for Williams
As yesterday started very well for Wales` boys (see Ryan Day or Matthew Stevens` performances), today couldn’t say no to another Welshman who conquered the German Masters trophy just the other week, right? Yes, I’m talking about Mark Williams, who totally and utterly crashed Marco Fu in what was one of the best matches of the day, so far.
I know that you are expecting an elaborate story, but there isn’t much to tell really, as Williams hits in runs of 45 and 51 to take over the first two frames and made some really beautiful century breaks (100 and 115) to close the deal. Still, if you want to know some juicy details, here’s what I’ve got for you: while hitting that beautiful 100, Williams was left to pot the brown but he hit it so hard that the poor one just flew off the table and ended on that hypnotizing blue carpet. Williams took the ball and throw it to Jan Verhaas (the ref in charge of the match). Like it wasn’t enough that he hid the cue ball from him during the German Masters final :-)) Funny guy this Mark Williams, I tell you and it’s nice to see him so relaxed and potting those balls like his nicknames states it ;-)


Mark Allen won his first match
At a near table Mark Allen and Rod Lawler were fighting for a place into the Last 16. It was easy as "goodbye" for Nord-Ireland’s boy to win the first three frames with a bit of help, meaning he hit in breaks of 57, 84 and 59. Or at least that’s how Allen leaves the impression- that snooker is easy and that you don’t need to worry. :-) Rod had a tentative of comeback as he won the 4th frame, but the next one was cashed by Allen who is now the second "Mark" to play further in the competition.


A third Mark of the day, meaning Mark Selby was taking on Stuart Bingham, in a match refereed by Eirian Williams. It wasn’t the most brilliant match of the day, but it started pretty well, and I’m not saying that because Selby took over the first two frames, but because during those first two frames both players` game were more fluent and more stabile than the rest.
Anyway, so Selby was in the lead, but Stuart didn’t want to seat back and "enjoy" Selby’s performance, so equalised the situation at hand. Seeing that the victory is nearly slipping through his hands, Selby hit a marvelous 100 to make it 3-2 against his opponent, but Bingham replayed in the next frame with a 77, break that forced a decider. And we were almost writing Stuat`s name on the Last 16 list, if he wouldn’t have missed an unexpected red, this bringing Selby back into the game, "The Jester from Leicester" hitting a 52 and punching the air as he cleared the table for victory.


Peter Ebdon`s game was very fluent
In the meantime, Peter Ebdon was "on a date" with Dominic Dale. Beautiful match and what do you know? It didn’t last too long :-))) The boys shared frames, Ebbo opening the match, then Dominic winning the second frame with an amazing 139 and the third with a 65, only to see Ebbo back in the race with a 63 break that made the score froze at 2-2. This could have gone either way, but Ebdon`s perfect cueing brought him the victory, victory that wouldn’t be complete without some great breaks, so Peter made a 115 and an 95 to book himself a place into the next round. Final score: 4-2.

But don’t you think that the day is over, as we still have a couple of matches for you, so be sure to check the schedule (click here for the previous article) and enjoy snooker :-)

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