2016 European Masters (Day Two)

The second day of the European Masters is history, but boy, what a day it was! The cue-crossings are beginning to become tighter and tougher, while the pressure is adding up.

First surprise of the tournament happened yesterday, Shaun Murphy experiencing an early exit after losing 4-1 in front of Mark Davis.

The start of the match was a bit scrappy, but Davis was sure to conquer the first frame with a top break of 41, while the second one was won with a 42 clearance.

Murphy scrapped his way into the match by taking the third frame, but Davis' brilliant 100 clearance from frame four, to which he added a top break of 37 in the following one, were sure to close the deal.

Liang Wenbo was also on fire, the Chinese player obtaining a 4-1 victory over Zak Surety in a match refereed by the Romanian Alex Crisan.

Wenbo started by firing in breaks of 80 and 50 to go 3-0 up, when his opponent fought back to avoid the whitewash. Still, the end was easy to guess, Wenbo ending with a 61 to get his Last 16 place.

Another interesting match was the one between the reigning champion Mark Selby and Dominic Dale.

The lads shared frames, Selby taking the opener while Dale won the second one with just a top break of 32.

Selby responded with a 67 clearance, but Dale caught up with him quite quickly after a perfect 72 to which the "Jester" answered with a 66 break.

The last frame was pure drama and it lasted about 50 minutes, the winner of an incredible safety shots battle being Selby who secured his place in the next round with a 4-2 victory.


Judd Trump has also progressed into the next round after a 4-3 win in front of Ben Woollaston, while Mark Allen crushed Daniel Womersley 4-0.

The evening came, and with it the match of the day: Ronnie O'Sullivan v. David Gilbert.

In a slight better form than the day before, Ronnie started with an 87 break followed by a 77 and a 68 to fly at 3-0 up.

But Gilbert didn't give up and replayed with a 74. Sadly he didn't stand a chance in front of Ronnie's runs of 50 and 41 that were closing the match at 4-1.

In other matches, Alfie Burden beat Yu De Lu by 4-1, while Belgium's Luca Brecel lost 4-3 in front of Scott Donaldson.

More awesome snooker is coming our way today, as it follows:

1pm
John Higgins v. Tom Ford

2pm
Alfie Burden v. Ricky Walden

7pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Mark Allen

8pm
Neil Robertson v. Rhys Clark

*all hours are Romania time

Photos credit: Lewis Ward