Welsh Open 2012 (Day 3) - Higgins fails to defend title, Rocket Ronnie takes off
Ding Junhui gets a place in the QFs |
The Scottish player, although managed to come back from being lead 2-0 down by Ding Junhui and even took command of the match, lost in the deciding frame, by 4-3.
Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan showed himself in great form, the recent winner of the German Masters hammering Marco Fu 4-1, Mark Allen whitewashed Ken Doherty 4-0, while Shaun Murphy applied the same cruel treatment on legend Steve Davis.
Reigning Welsh Open champion John Higgins saw his hopes being crushed as he failed to defend his title. Ding Junhui flied at 2-0 with a bit of help from breaks like 65 and 76, but the Scottish player didn’t give up. Runs of 32, 30, 43 and 33 were more than enough to guarantee him the comeback as well as taking the lead at 3-2.
Higgins fails to defend his title |
The Chinese player was the first in, a break of 86 sealing a 4-3 victory and getting him a place in the quarter-finals.
Ronnie O'Sullivan proved to be in a very good form, the recent winner of the German crown hammering Marco Fu 4-1 after hitting in runs of 52, 43, 88, 51, 68 and 102. The Rocket has a booked snooker meeting with Mark Williams tomorrow for a last battle of cues before the quarter-finals are kicking off.
O'Sullivan in great form |
With runs of 27 and 23, Murphy let Davis in, but unfortunately the six-time world champion ended up on a pretty tough last black. The scoreline was 60-57, so the Essex man needed it desperately to go it. But it didn't, Murphy potting it to claim his quarter-finals spot.
But the third day of the Welsh Open saw another whitewash against another legend, this time from Ireland. "The Darling of Dublin" Ken Doherty experienced the "Pistol" Mark Allen's fury, whose breaks of 61, 59, 77, 55 and 48 ended any hopes of going further in the competition.
Steve Davis, not very happy being crashed |
Still, the Pink Army soldier succeeded to pull back a couple of frames, before Maguire's force knock him down with a lethal 87 break. Final result: 4-2.
Local star, Welshman Matthew Stevens crossed his cue against the Shoot-Out champion Barry Hawkins, the lads going all the way through.
Stevens wins a tought battle against Hawkins |
But the "The Welsh Dragon" doesn't give up so easily a strategically 70 break forcing the decider, while a 60 one was sealing the 4-3 victory for Stevens.
Tomorrow’s match schedule:
1pm
Stephen Lee v. Tom Ford
Mark Williams v. Ronnie
O'Sullivan
Mark Allen v. Stephen
Hendry
Stephen Maguire v. Matthew
Stevens
Judd Trump v. Stuart
Bingham
Mark Selby v. Martin Gould
*all hours are UK timeTV coverage:
13:00 - 16:30 BBC 2 Wales
13:00 - 17:00 British
EuroSport
19:00 - 20:00 BBC 2 Wales
19:00 - 20:00 BBC 2 Wales
19:00 - 22:00 British
EuroSport
23:20 - 24:00 BBC 2 Wales
23:20 - 24:00 BBC 2 Wales
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