Day five of the UK Championship qualifiers has seen the start of the third round matches. Apologies for the lack of updates today, caused by problems with my internet at home. Note that I will be away for much of Saturday so for all the latest scores, keep checking over at GSC.
Morning/Evening Matches:
It was a good day for Scottish veterans as both Alan McManus and Marcus Campbell recorded good wins to move into the final qualifying round this weekend.
McManus, armed with his new cue of course, came up against young Welshman Jamie Jones and though on paper his 9-4 win looks like a comfortable one, for a while it was anything but as Jones raced into a 3-0 lead early on. Alan though managed to steady the ship by taking the next before the interval and on their resumption took all four of the remaining frames to get out of the session 5-3 ahead. This became 7-3 and the writing was on the wall for Jones as some consistently heavy scoring from his opponent proved too much to handle. Next up for Alan is a match with Barry Hawkins, one that could go either way.
It was a similar story for Campbell too as he secured a 9-4 win over another in-form player, Bahrain quarter-finalist Robert Milkins today. Like Alan he slipped 3-0 behind, which became 4-1 after the interval, but suddenly found his form and reeled off eight straight frames to set up a tie with Welshman Matthew Stevens.
The most dominant performance of the day however came from young Liu Chuang who battered world number 43 David Gilbert 9-1. Though he played well throughout, it was the start of his match which was particularly impressive as he fired in breaks of 69, 76, 59 and 101 to lead 4-0 at the interval to frankly overwhelm his opponent. Having done relatively little since his breakthrough at the World Championship last season, it is interesting that Liu seems to particularly enjoy the longer frame matches, or perhaps it is the setting at the EISS that he is particularly comfortable with as opposed to that in Prestatyn. Either way, it is good to see him do well again and next up is an intriguing tie with Ireland’s Ken Doherty.
The other three matches to be completed today went with experience as Gerard Greene, Andrew Higginson and Joe Delaney eased into the last 48. Following 7-1 and 9-0 wins previously, Rodney Goggins must have been full of confidence but it did him little good today as Greene comprehensively defeated him 9-3. Delaney’s win over Mike Dunn was also good one though, particularly given his lack of success over the last 18 months or so.
Mike Dunn 6-9 Joe Delaney 0-98(92), 30-71, 78(78)-0, 59(47)-4, 55-66, 0-115(115), 53(46)-69, 60(39)-45, 126(126)-4, 69-58(38), 68-64, 40-56, 44-56, 13-78(78), 56(46)-71
Andrew Higginson 9-5 Matt Couch 81(60)-43, 54-79, 42-66, 15-59(38), 84(37)-7, 116(68)-13, 73(38)-29, 57-71, 81(68)-20, 68(53)-13, 92(88)-0, 62(53)-0, 36-84(40), 66-23
Dave Gilbert 1-9 Liu Chuang 7-88(69), 0-76(76), 32-86(59), 0-101(101), 0-75(42), 53-66(46), 39-91(70), 64(42)-10, 1-77, 49(48)-61(42)
Gerard Green 9-3 Rodney Goggins 66-16, 93(79)-0, 64(51)-38, 38-68, 70(59)-49, 58-83(56), 82-46, 64-45, 101(41,60)-0, 83(83)-0, 14-85(51), 63-12
Alan McManus 9-4 Jamie Jones 8-71(62), 34-72, 50(36)-73, 69(67)-28, 59-49, 68-8, 71(57)-33, 72(64)-53(53), 67(38)-21, 82(64)-0, 0-72(72), 65(57)-23, 92(58)-0
Marcus Campbell 9-4 Rob Milkins 53-72(46), 38-54, 42-57, 54-34, 60(47)-31, 57-70(50), 50-39, 67-35, 91(91)-10, 73(61)-16, 72(40)-8, 64-23, 72-47
Afternoon Matches:
It looks like being yet another nervous ride for Jimmy White’s fans tomorrow as he finds himself 5-3 down against Rory McLeod after today’s first session. Jimmy, having already come through two 9-8 finishes this week, got off to a bad start falling 3-1 behind at the interval, but rallied to win a couple of tight frames to bring himself back level again. McLeod though was not going to wilt and and took the final two to take a slender lead into the final session.
One of the most interesting matches of the day on paper was that between Shanghai winner Ricky Walden and Mark Davis, the world number 58 who has actually been playing some pretty good stuff for a while now. Falling 3-1 behind it looked like the match would be going the way of the higher ranked player, but Davis hit back with a break of 105 to level it and eventually got out of the session 4-4, leaving it nicely poised for tomorrow.
Finally Michael Holt put himself in a strong position against Kuldesh Johal to lead 6-2, though after his recent slip-up against Robert Milkins in Bahrain, he will be taking absolutely nothing for granted. Similarly Jamie Burnett will be wary of David Morris, despite leading the Irish youngster 5-3. Morris has looked to be in really good form this week and it will be interesting to see if he can mount a comeback.