When I predicted victories for seven of the eight seeds on my Twitter page last night I feared that I might be playing too safe but as it was to turn out I was actually being too adventurous as Mark Allen made it eight from eight…
Click here to view the updated provisional rankings.
Results from Global Snooker:
Match 2 – Neil Robertson 5-2 Mike Dunn
63(36)-21, 30-56, 116(112)-0, 106(88)-5, 102(102)-0, 1-105(52,52), 92(66)-28
Match 8 – Stephen Maguire 5-3 Barry Hawkins
36-77, 88(88)-0, 73(73)-7, 83(61)-27, 59-52, 1-117(56,61), 47(42)-57, 73(54)-30
Match 14 – Marco Fu 5-2 Bjorn Haneveer
63-55, 85(50)-38, 115(110)-0, 39-59, 100(95)-0, 9-65(36), 69-29
Match 15 – Mark Williams 5-3 Jamie Cope
38(38)-83(83), 82(67)-0, 57(44)-18, 61(61)-69(69), 46-74, 75(68)-0, 85(67)-18, 72(38)-22
Match 3 – Ding Junhui 5-3 Gerard Greene
32-74(73), 130(100)-0, 82(61)-4, 73(39)-2, 84(37)-41, 58-60, 21-59, 107(107)-0
Match 5 – Ryan Day 5-1 Robert Milkins
78(65)-33, 4-70(42), 65-2, 54-50, 67(58)-39, 80(64)-51
Match 7 – Mark Allen 5-1 Graeme Dott
41-45, 102(102)-2, 65(60)-32, 86(86)-0, 66(36)-21, 63(39)-56
Match 16 – John Higgins 5-3 Fergal O’Brien
43-72(40), 74(74)-0, 74(50)-20, 74-26, 0-77(77), 64(38)-25, 45-69, 74(74)-0
By defeating Irishman Fergal O’Brien today, Scotland’s John Higgins moved one step closer to securing the world number one spot for next year and in the process set up an intriguing tie with old foe Mark Williams at the last 16 stage. I did not see the match but on paper Higgins looks to have played well, recording breaks of 74, 74 and 50 to help him through against a dangerous qualifier who is always capable of causing an upset.
Williams meanwhile also saw off a dangerous qualifier in the shape of Stoke’s Jamie Cope, dealing a blow to his top 16 chances in the process. Jamie started well with a break of 83 in the first frame having seen Mark falter on 38, but it was the Welshman who took the next two with 67 and 44 to go into the lead for the first time. It looked like he might secure an important 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval as he made a break of 61 in frame four but Cope hit back with 69 to level the match again before going 3-2 up on their resumption. Credit to Mark though, he was not to be flustered with runs of 68, 67 and 38 to complete a 5-3 win and set up that Higgins tie. Jamie now finds himself down to 15th in the provisional rankings and should Mark King win tomorrow will find himself on the brink as he heads to the Crucible next month…
Elsewhere the top seeds managed to progress without too much trouble, all securing their places inside the top 16 while ending the seasons of some of their lower ranked opponents. Notably, Mike Dunn’s defeat to Neil Robertson confirms that he will not be able to move up into the top 32 for the first time in his career, while Robert Milkins will finish the season no higher than 36th following defeat to Ryan Day.