Day four at the EISS sees the final second qualifying round matches come to an end. Click below to check on today’s scores…
Morning Session
Following a few close sessions over the last few days, this morning was a bit of a contrast as there were several one-sided scorelines recorded.
The standout performance was put in by Irishman Rodney Goggins who won all eight of his frames against veteran David Roe to leave him needing just one more tonight to progress to the third round. Following his 7-1 win over Declan Hughes on Monday, it has been a great week so far for Goggins who looks like coming up against world number 33 Gerard Greene next.
Almost as dominant were Martin Gould who just lost the one frame against Thailand’s Supoj Saenla, and David Morris who must have played very well to establish a 6-2 lead over another Thai, Atthasit Mahitthi. It is easy to forget that Morris is only 20 as he has been on the tour for a couple of years now, but it looks like he is starting to find his feet at this level now and he could go on from strength to strength. Atthasit though has played well this season and if he can win three of the first four frames tonight, he will still have every chance of making a comeback.
Meanwhile, the remaining three matches finish up 5-3 in favour of Liu Chuang, Stuart Pettman and Kuldesh Johal, though Liu in particular will have hoped for slightly more having at one point led Mark Joyce 5-1. Mark is in the best form of his career after his Masters final appearance last week though and he has given himself a chance going into tonight by taking those final two frames now.
Martin Gould 7-1 Supoj Saenla 86(60)-0, 68(44)-28, 70(70)-6, 87(56)-35, 65-0, 54-25, 1-89(51), 62-31
David Roe 0-8 Rodney Goggins 31-85(43), 37-74(66), 41-63(47), 25-76(68), 25-67, 1-68(54), 13-51(39), 1-65(61)
Mark Joyce 3-5 Liu Chuang 8-69(44), 51(38)-67, 35-75(67), 30-76(67), 61(55)-68(45), 83(83)-0, 82-18, 60(59)-52(45)
Stuart Pettman 5-3 Peter Lines 66-33, 62-31, 81(52)-8, 28-70, 54-45, 36-65(39), 108(108)-0, 31-65(59)
Paul Davies 3-5 Kuldesh Johal 40-70, 83(43)-35, 27-69(63), 41-54, 24-75(52), 77(68)-49(48), 62-50, 0-75(63)
David Morris 6-2 Atthasit Mahitthi 57-36, 69(39)-11, 116(74)-0, 68-43, 51(51)-70, 68-18, 33-64(43), 67-42
Afternoon Session
The first players to move into the next round today were Jin Long and Lee Spick who both enjoyed strong wins over their higher ranked opponents. Long was first as resuming at 5-3 up against Rod Lawler, he managed to maintain his advantage throughout the afternoon and book a third round clash with one of snooker’s form players at the moment, Judd Trump.
Lee though had an altogether tougher match against Andrew Norman as they started what was effectively a best of 9 match at 4-4. This soon became a best of three as they shared the first six frames of the day to go 7-7, before Lee upped his game and managed to take the last two for a 9-7 victory. He will now face another in-form player, Liang Wenbo in the third round.
In the third match of the session to conclude, former world semi-finalist Andy Hicks survived a bit of a scare against Patrick Wallace to win his match 9-7. Resuming at 6-2 it appeared as though Andy was well in the driving seat, but Wallace came right back at him, threatening to level the match at 8-8 at one point. Hicks managed to hold his nerve though and secure a match with another veteran, former world champion John Parrot.
Finally the closest match saw a narrow 9-8 win for Matt Selt over Liu Song, particularly impressive given that Selt resumed today at 4-3 down to the world number 53. It looked even more unlikely as having levelled at 6-6, he saw his opponent take the next two frames to move just one away at 8-6, but Selt hung on and took the final three frames to secure a great win, and a match with Adrian Gunnell in the third round.
Rod Lawler 6-9 Jin Long 67(44)-25, 67-52(52), 1-90(90), 63-66, 1-79(65), 63(63)-53(47), 10-129(104), 17-57, 61-56(56), 38-75, 1-80(80), 29-64, 60(39)-10, 64(39)-13, 22-82
Andy Hicks 9-7 Patrick Wallace 85-20, 87(87)-14, 6-70, 32-72(58), 73(55)-35, 73(56)-35, 71(64)-25, 79(79)-53(53), 75(68)-0, 36-70, 38-73(59), 28-63, 105(97)-0, 9-115(45,56), 69(69)-16, 36-54, 60-17
Andrew Norman 7-9 Lee Spick 70-49(44), 49-62(55), 37-57, 67-32, 71(47)-54(54), 59-16, 47-60, 58(49)-64(64), 79-17, 52-65(54), 46-59(40), 46-78, 63-15, 111(87)-5, 40-73, 37-80(44)
Liu Song 8-9 Matt Selt 28-70(40), 78-16, 54-46, 36-74, 63-55, 64-34, 59-71(43), 88(88)-16, 34-80, 82(72)-6, 48-75(64), 15-82(40), 76(76)-0, 65(59)-0, 24-70(65), 0-71(71), 15-52
Evening Session:
It was a short evening session for some as two matches were completed in no time, Rodney Goggins taking the one frame he needed to whitewash David Roe 9-0 and Martin Gould taking two to finish off Supoj Saenla 9-1. Their rewards for such impressive wins are ties with Gerard Greene and Tom Ford respectively.
David Morris also wasted little time as he cruised past Atthasit Mahitthi 9-2, a surprisingly comfortable victory against someone un such good form. Morris is a talented young player though and it will be interesting to see how far he can go this week now…
Another impressive win came from last season’s PIOS winner Kuldesh Johal who took the four frames he needed against Paul Davies tonight to move into the third round of an event for the first time this season. Standing between him and the last 48 though is a match between Michael Holt, an interesting one given how Michael’s last ranking event match against Robert Milkins in Bahrain went…
Finally, Liu Chuang and Stuart Pettman booked their places in the last 64 with solid wins over Mark Joyce and Peter Lines tonight, 9-4 and 9-6 respectively. Liu’s best run since his Crucible appearance last season, he’ll now be coming up against David Gilbert in one of the most interesting ties of the third round. Pettman meanwhile meets Jimmy Michie for the right to face Stuart Bingham.