UK Championship (2011) Day 4 - O'Sullivan kicked out, Ding in the QFs
 |
| Trump, first to reach the quarter-finals |
The forth
day of the second most prestigious tournament in the snooker calendar has
clearly been a very entertaining one. We've only witness the first session and
yet we've seen two great matches.
The first
two names to get through the quarter-finals are those of Judd Trump and Ding
Junhui, both of them beating their opponents, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Matthew
Stevens respectively by 6-5.
The clash
between Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan went all the way through the last
frame, a last frame that saw the "Rocket" get a horrendous kick in
his attempt to pot the last black ball and go for a re-spot. He was practically
kicked out of the tournament because of that heavy contact.
 |
| Kick and go - Ronnie O'Sullivan |
Needless to
say that the entire match the lads were just one frame apart and that it rained
with great, heavy breaks. Still it's interesting to see that O'Sullivan had always
been the one to take the lead until Trump won the seventh frame to go 4-3 up.
That put quite a pressure on the shoulders of the three-time world champion.
However, he
managed to cope with it, a break of 83 levelling the match, while a 69 was
sending the "Rocket" one step closer to the victory, 5-4.
Trump on
the other hand, was not going to give up so easily so he did his best to force
a decider, decider that he won.
And so, a
match that saw breaks of 85, 114, 83 and 69 from O'Sullivan and 68, 64, 76 and
98 from Trump ended on a 6-5 final scoreline.
At the
press conference that took place after the match O'Sullivan talked about retiring,
about not getting too much pleasure from playing in tournaments (note: not
snooker, but tournaments) and about needing to find someone and settle down.
You can read more about it by reading Snooker Backer's bid right here.
 |
| Ding Junhui kept it cool and won |
At table
number two another match was taking place: Ding Junhui v. Matthew Stevens and
it was pretty clear from the beginning who's the most focused player: the
Chinese one.
Breaks of
58 and 37 were breaking the ice and putting Ding two points ahead of Stevens,
but the Welshman did manage to perform a full comeback by the start of the mid-session
interval with a top break of 92.
After the
15-minutes break Ding hit a marvellous 133 to put his nose in front and was
very unlucky to miss frame ball during the next frame and stop him break at just
64. Stevens took plenty advantage and cleared with a great 65 to draw level at
3-3.
 |
| Unfortunately, Stevens' run ends in the Last 16 |
One more
time the Chinese player got to take the lead, this time by two frames, with a
bit of help from breaks like 65 and 68. Ding was now 5-3 ahead, but Stevens
wasn't going to lose so easily.
He seemed like he regained some form as he
forced the decider, but everything changed when he missed an easy black and
lost the frame and match, by doing so.
The first
two quarter-finalists, Trump and Ding, are expecting now to meet their
opponents. Trump will be taking a glance at Higgins v. Maguire match, while
Ding will pay attention to Dott v. Robertson.
Snooker
continues from 7pm (UK
time) with:
John
Higgins v. Stephen Maguire
Neil
Robertson v. Graeme Dott
TV
coverage:
19:45 -
22:00 British EuroSport 2
23:20 -
02:10 BBC Two (the highlights)
20:15 -
22:00 British EuroSport
You can
watch the lads on action also online, at www.sportlemon.tv or by visiting
mypremium.tv
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