PTC Event One 2011 - Day 3

Three Scots - three dreams

As you all know yesterday was the first day that marked the entrance of the professionals into Sheffield’s snooker arena, but what do you know? Not every one of them has produced fireworks at the end of their battles of cues.


That’s the case of the current world champion, John Higgins but also Judd Trump’s (the 2011World Championship runner-up), both of them being eliminated from the very first round. Higgins lost in front of the Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng by a tight 4-3, while Trump saw himself being hammered by David Gilbert 4-1. Quite a shock, huh? Well, that’s the high standard speaking, as well as the "I've haven't entered the zone yet" mood ... at least, that’s what I think.


Moving on to the eight players that made it though the final stages of this first PTC event, I have to say that Scotland can be proud, as Stephen Maguire, Marcus Campbell and Eden Sharav are among those who cached one victory after another.

The Rocket is in great form

Maguire started his day with a very tense battle, but he succeeded to finally beat Matthew Day 4-3, only to see him putting in the corner both Jack Lisowski and the mighty Mark Selby with a 4-2 scoreline. He means business! ;-)
Campbell’s first match was given against a fellow-countryman, Paul Davison whom he beat 4-3, the last two being half Scottish, half Thai as he won 4-1 over Passakorn Suwannawat and 4-2 over Dechawat Poomjaeng.
As for the youngster Eden Sharav, he started by whitewashing the one and only Liang Wenbo, continued with a decisive 4-1 against Adam Duffy and finally concluded his perfect day with a 4-2 over Gary Wilson. You better watch out for this boy!


A very nice surprise was offered by the mighty Rocket Ronnie O`Sullivan, the three-time world champion earning a spot in the Last 16, after he defeated Mike Hallet 4-2, hammered Andy Hicks 4-1 and crashed Belgium’s star Bjorn Haneveer 4-0 (a "tiny" break of 132 was part of the equation here :-P).

Not a very good day for White and Holt

Martin Gould seems to be having a ball, as he eliminated Jamie Barrett 4-2 and ended on a decider with Matthew Selt and Nigel Bond 4-3, this suggesting he is ready for the kill. But that could also be said about Stuart Bingham, the Englishman winning 4-0 over Andrew Milliard and Jamie Burnett and 4-3 over Mark Davis, while Joe Jogia put his foot on the ground, taking control with a 4-0 lead over Daniel Wells, 4-1 over the Chinese Liu Chuang and a 4-2 over Michael Holt.


Yesterday was a loooong night for snooker, but it is said that at night one takes the wisest decisions (ok, ok, so maybe it’s a superstition). However, for David Gilbert the night meant he is guaranteed a place into the Last 16, as he succeeded to win 4-1 over Juddy Trump, 4-2 over Jamie Cope and 4-1 over the legendary Jimmy White.
And since we are on "the Whirlwind" subject, I must add that Jimmy was pretty unlucky, as he defeated David Morris 4-3, succeeded to do the same in the match against Alan McManus (after being lead 3-1), but sadly couldn’t repeat the performance a third time. That is also the case of Michael Holt, who hit no more than three century breaks (103, 106 and 117) in his fist match against David Gray, whom he beat 4-1, won 4-2 over Matthew Couch, only to see himself lose the final battle in front a more powerful Joe Jogia.


Here are the results:


From 9am


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At the end of today we shall have the final draw for the Last 16, so best of luck to the lads and ... let’s play snoooooooooooker!!!


From 9am


Not before 11am


Not before 1pm


Not before 3pm


Not before 5pm


Not before 7pm


Not before 9pm
*all hours are UK time