Haikou World Open 2012 (Day 3) - Pistol Allen starts shooting, while Robbo takes revenge

Pistol Allen on the run

With the same crack-crack floor the World Open tournament saw its Day 3 matches taking place in a venue where humidity it's at its best and on the same slower-than-normal tables.

Still, that didn't seem to stop Mark Allen from hammering his pink comrade Jimmy Robertson 5-1, nor Mark Selby to eliminate the second wildcard player who was still in the race, Lu Ning 5-3, or Neil Robertson to take revenge with a 5-3 scoreline in front of the Scotsman who beat him so cruelly during the recently ended Welsh Open, Stephen Hendry.

The proud of Northern Ireland and runner-up of last year UK Championship, Mark Allen (though never fondly of the Chinese venue or the playing conditions as he honestly said it on his private Twitter account) did his best and obtained a well deserved victory of 5-1 in front of another member of the Pink Army, Jimmy Robertson.

Allen used a top break of 61 to cash the first three frames of the match, right before the interval Robertson managing to win his first with a brilliant 49 clearance. Unfortunately for last year’s Crucible debutant that was going to remain his first and last frame cashed, after the mini-break Allen shooting a 37 and a 36 to win the next couple of frames and land safely in the Last 16 round where he's meeting with the man who beat him in the UK Championship final, Judd Trump.

A bit of a struggle for Selby to win over China's Ning

Mark Selby, though far from his best, saw himself being lead 2-0 by the Chinese player Lu Ning, before he started to wake up and smell the cruel reality. 

However, just as the mid-session interval was about to kick off he managed to draw level with s set of 108 and 36 and though Ning put his nose back in front after the break with a 41, world number one didn't give up.

Runs of 24, 29, 47, 45 and 50 were enough to draw level for 3-3, but also to get Selby the leading position and a real burst for the near victory. Final scoreline 5-3.

At table number one, Mark King was ruling over the green baize, his opponent, Mark Williams finding it hard to put his nickname of "Welsh Potting Machine" to work.

King ruled over the green baize

The first session saw King winning no less than three consecutive frames, while Williams just managed to steal one on the black with a 30 clearance. One would think that winning that last frame would have given him a bit more fluency for playing after the 15-minute break, but sadly it just wasn’t to be his day.

King would win the 5^h frame on the black (déjà vu?), while the next frame was secured with a 71 break. Williams was hammered, 5-1.

At the opposite corner, Joe Perry and Matthew Stevens seemed to be having the time of their life consuming all the possible frames for their snooker encounter.

It was a very balanced match with the Welshman being always the one in the leading position up until the scoreline froze at 4-4. That was the crucial moment when Perry knew he needed to get in quickly and make the most of any chance he got. And after runs of 51 and 42 it was crystal clear the "Gentleman" was prevailed in front of the Welsh Dragon by 5-4.

Williams not in a very potting mood lately

If two weeks ago Neil Robertson was almost crushed by a very determined Stephen Hendry during the Welsh Open tournament, now it was the time to take revenge.

Though the Aussie wasn't at his best and the match could have easily gone either way, Robbo was the one to take better advantage of the opportunities life and sometimes Hendry gave to him.

When the scoreboard was announcing a 4-1 scoreline in favour of Robertson very few people imagined Hendry will try and make a comeback. But he did. And he almost succeeded.

Breaks of 66 and 69 got the Scotsman two frames on a row before Robertson would close the deal at 5-3 after winning a scrappy last frame.

After the match the lads kept talking a bit about the way the table was moving, the floor not being build on concrete (thus making that horrible sound when the players move across the table) and this interfering with the cue action quality of both of them.

Robbo and hendry taking about the table

Another very balanced match was going on between Martin Gould and Jamie Cope, the boys going all the way until the decider, although in this case, Gould could have wrapped things up when he was leading 4-2.

But Cope didn’t give up and knew when to make the comeback that would force the decider, decider that he took with a top break of just 35 points.

Robert Milkins joined the rest of the gang in the Last 16 round after he beat Stephen Maguire 5-3, a victory that for some was an amazing thing, although Maguire has kind of lost his form after being defeated in the German Masters final by O'Sullivan.

The Scot was in command of the match leading Milking 3-1, but the Pink Army member pulled back a couple of frames to draw level and even put his nose in front at 4-3 with a 62. From this point on it was just a matter a time to win the battle of cues, a break of 58 sealing the victory for the Englishman.

Here are Day 3 list or results:

24 Mark Selby 5-3 Lu Ning
17 Mark Williams 1-5 Mark King
19 Mark Allen 5-1 Jimmy Robertson
22 Matthew Stevens 4-5 Joe Perry

Tomorrow the action continues with:

6.30am

11.30am
26 Jin Long v. Robert Milkins
25 John Higgins v. Jamie Cope
27 Graeme Dott v. Marcus Campbell
28 Stephen Lee v. Neil Robertson
*all hours are UK time

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