Tonight saw the the final four first round matches get underway, click below to read what happened in all the matches…
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 Joe Perry
Ronnie O’Sullivan recovered from a tricky start tonight to come out with a 5-3 lead over Joe Perry after today’s eight frames.
Meeting for the third time this season in a ranking event, it was Perry who made the stronger starting, taking the opening frame before recovering from over fifty points down in the next to win and make it 2-0.
O’Sullivan though responded in typical fashion, making breaks of 127, 143 and 114 on the way to a 5-3 lead as Perry snatched the last one to give himself a chance going in the final session. If the defending champion plays like that though, it will be a tall order for Joe to avoid falling at the last 16 hurdle for the fifth time this year…
Mark King 4-4 Stephen Lee
Away from the TV cameras tonight, Stephen Lee and Mark King played out a pretty decent session of snooker which ended up at 4-4.
It was Mark who made the stronger start with a couple of 40+ breaks helping him on his way to a 2-0 lead, but Stephen came back at him with a superb run of 136, before levelling up with 53 at the interval. The next four frames followed a similar pattern, King taking two to lead 4-2 before Lee responded by winning the last two.
Should be a very interesting session tomorrow, hard to call a winner here…