PTC Grand Finals 2011 - Day 2

15:42:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Matthew Stevens gets a place into the quarter-finals
The second day of the PTC Grand Finals was divided between the two matches that were still played for a place in the Last 16 and the other three that were played for a place into the quarter-finals. What can I say? Yesterday was a special day for the more experienced ones, for the players that have amazed us with their constant strengths when it comes to an important competition. Still, we shouldn’t underestimate those who weren’t fortunate enough as to qualify further in the tournament, for they are still great players who will rule the world of snooker some day ;-)


The day started with Jamie Jones being totally and utterly crashed by Martin Gould 4-0, in a match that saw "Gouldie" hit in runs of 50, 41, 106 and 42 as to set a battle with another youngster - Judd Trump. Following Jamie’s defeat, Jack Lisowski was hammered 4-1 by Andrew Higginson, who hit a marvelous 128 in the opening frame to stand his intention of winning this match.


Shaun Murphy and Ricky Walden offered us a very slow battle of cues and also not so brilliant one, but enough to keep us glued to the TV screen as to find out who will win this. Although Ricky won the first frame (a very tight one, by all means, it was decided by the little crazy pink ball!), Shaun took the next three by hitting in breaks of 41, 43 and 50. Please note that if the first frame was won by Murphy after two visits at the table, the next two were conquered after some really scrappy affairs :-))

Hamilton`s with an eye on the victory, but "she" wasn`t looking
At 3-1, Walden succeeded in pulling one back (tremendous effort), but the Smurf took the next one and booked himself a place in the quarter finals, by doing so.


An all Welshmen battle was given between Dominic Dale and Matthew Stevens, the last one being the winner. Stevens took the first frame with a beautiful break of 93, only to see his opponent taking the next one after a very tight battle. Still, Matthew was the one who cashed all the remaining frames, taking plenty advantage of Dominic’s poor safety shots. In the end Matthew stared to miss some very easy balls, but he still succeeded to maintain himself on top of his fellow-country.
The last match of the day was the one between "The Welsh Potting machine", Mark Williams and "The Sheriff of Pottingham", Anthony Hamilton.
If the day started with a whitewash it was only normal to be ended with another one :-)), so Williams won 4-0 over Hamilton, after taking the first frame with a break of 111 and the last one with an amazing 143 (the highest break so far, after Hamilton’s 133).


Today we shall see the matches that will give is the latest names to complete the quarter-finals draw:


10.00 am - Marcus Campbell v. Stuart Bingham
NB 12.00 pm - Barry Pinches v. Michael Holt
NB 3.00 pm - Stephen Lee v. Mark Davis
NB 6.30 pm - Mark Selby v. Andrew Higginson
NB 8.00 pm - Judd Trump v. Martin Gould
*all hours are UK time


Best of luck to all the players and see you later on today for Day 3 comments and funny stories ;-)

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