Night eight of the Premier League featured Joe Perry and John Higgins in the first match before the clash of the titans, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan in the second. Click below to find out what happened…
Match One: Perry qualifies as Higgins bows out
Joe Perry tonight became the second man to qualify for the semi-finals next month as he defeated Scotland’s John Higgins 4-2, putting the Grand Prix winner out in the process.
Joe came into the evening needing to avoid defeat but in truth he never looked like losing as John struggled to get into the match. Joe started in great form however with a well-taken 72 to lead in no time. The second frame was more scrappy, but following a terrible shot from John with just one second remaining on the shot clock, Perry was presented a great chance for 2-0. Though he broke down on 37, John could not take advantage and Perry took the frame, all but putting Higgins out of the event.
This was confirmed in the next frame as again Perry got in first with a break of 39 before missing a tough red to the yellow pocket. Higgins had a chance to counter but it just wasn’t happening for him and Perry got back to the table to secure the draw and his place in the semi-finals.
He took the next to win the match before John showed a bit of his class with an excellent 120 break in in frame five to earn himself £2,000. He looked like making it back to back centuries in the final frame of the night but came too straight on the final yellow and missed it to the green pocket to leave himself on 76.
Joe will be delighted to be into the semis so comfortably, he had a blip against Ding in his last match but otherwise has been consistently excellent in an excellent debut season for him. He will be hoping now to overhaul Mark Selby at the top of the league and avoid Ronnie O’Sullivan in his semi-final next month in Hopton.
As for John Higgins, he’ll be disappointed but it has just the way his last few matches have gone unfortunately for him. He’ll be in action against Steve Davis next week as he hopes to at least secure a bit more prize money and hopefully for him a confidence boosting win.
As an aside, this result also means that Ronnie O’Sullivan is guaranteed to be in the semi-finals next month as only one of Ding Junhui and Stephen Hendry could possibly overhaul him now.
Match Two: Hendry pegged back as O’Sullivan levels scrappy encounter
Well the match wasn’t exactly a classic, but it was entertaining enough as many of the frames went to the colours and a 3-3 draw was probably a fair result at the end of it.
Ronnie O’Sullivan looked to be in good form early on as he moved into a 53-0 lead without giving Hendry a chance. Stephen hung in there though and having made it 53-43 before missing the last red down the cushion, snookered O’Sullivan and eventually stole the frame on the final pink from it.
After a re-rack in the second frame, Hendry got in with an excellent long red before surprisingly missing an easy black off the spot to hand O’Sullivan a chance to immediately level the match. Even more surprisingly however, after his initial red he underhit a blue off the spot which he left hanging over the pocket as Hendry was let off the hook. He didn’t need another chance as he wrapped up the frame in one visit with his 725th career century break, though only his first in this season’s Premier League.
After his initial good start, O’Sullivan was beginning to fade and miss a few shots, but he did at least take the third frame to give himself a foothold in it with a cool 67 break. Hendry had a chance to fight back and steal another frame but he made a mess of it and 2-1 it was.
Stephen did enough to secure a point in the next though as after a couple of poor shots from both players, he made a nice 72 break despite a heavy contact on his opening red to the right-centre. With his showdown match against Ding Junhui next week, this meant that Hendry will only need a draw next week to qualify for the semi-finals in 4th place.
As for the match, after O’Sullivan had made 68, it looked like Hendry might secure the win in frame five as he was presented with a great chance to steal it. Unfortunately though a poor shot on the final red left him awkward on the pink and he eventually went in-off when trying to get around the table. O’Sullivan duly knocked the red in to make it 3-2.
The deciding frame proved to be the scrappiest of the evening across both matches as both struggled to take full advantage of their chances and produce a frame-winning break. In the end though it was a failed attempt at the last red from distance from Hendry that proved costly as O’Sullivan rescued a point before biting the tip off his cue immediately after his final shot!
While this does little for O’Sullivan as he was already through to the semi-finals, his point does mean that Stephen will now just need to draw against Ding Junhui next week in order to qualify for the semi-finals. While this is by no means easy, it is a better situation than had he needed to win four of the six frames. It was actually quite funny at the end as he did his interview with Sky because presenter Andy Goldstein was telling him that he needed to beat Ding next week, before Hendry pointed out that he was in 4th place in the table and if he drew next week then by his maths he was through!