Rankings updated throughout the day…
Day four of the World Open has seen the highest ranked casualty of the tournament to date as Ali Carter exited, although his defeat to Mark Williams can hardly be classed as a major upset. Also through to the last 16 are Ding Junhui, Stephen Hendry and Stephen Lee…
The last 32 clash between Mark Williams and Ali Carter today was on paper at least, the match of the tournament so far and it indeed proved to be an entertaining affair, in particular during the third frame which was won by Carter.
For a while, fans could have been forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu as following Ronnie O’Sullivan’s previous maximum at the Crucible in 2008, Ali matched his achievement the following day and as he hit nine reds and nine blacks today, it looked like it might happen again. It was not to be however as the break ended on 72 and even worse for Ali, Mark was able to clear with 72 of his own to force an unlikely re-spotted black. Ali though was able to hang in there and take the frame, although it ultimately was to prove in vain as Mark wrapped up the victory with a break of 95 in frame four to book his spot in the next round.
A winner of a PTC event already this summer played under a short format such as this, Mark is one of the form players on the tour over the past few months and one who undoubtedly has a great chance to lift a second ranking event title of 2010 here in Glasgow this week. As far as his ranking is concerned the result consolidates his position in the middle of the 4-9 bracket, although with Carter now out he does have the opportunity to make inroads into the Captain’s lead.
For Ali though the result does mean that the opportunity to move up to number one in the world is now out of his hands as Neil Robertson has the chance to wrap it up with a few more good performances this week. Should Neil lose in the last 32 here however then it would go all the way to the second EPTC event next month.
The other winners this afternoon meanwhile were Ding Junhui and not without a fight, Stephen Lee who withstood a determined fightback from Nigel Bond before prevailing in a decider.
Having started the season slowly with a couple of indifferent performances both in the Premier League and in Shanghai, Ding has started to play his way into form this week with a couple of early matches against players ranked outside of the world’s top 40 at the start of the season. A finalist here a couple of seasons ago, if he can maintain the scoring that he demonstrated today against stronger opposition then he could take some stopping.
Stephen Lee meanwhile kept his place for a place at the Masters and a UK Championship seeding alive today by edging out Nigel Bond in a dramatic match. Lee now moves up to 19th in my latest list, less than 2,000 points behind 16th placed Ebdon.
In the first of the evening matches, Stephen Hendry kept his hopes alive for another title in Scotland with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over an off-colour Mark Davis. Stephen was not at his vintage best throughout the match but Davis, seemingly handicapped by a stomach bug that he suffered from last night, never looked like taking advantage of the Scot’s errors.
Still, Stephen will not be too concerned about that and now into the last 16, will be looking forward to tomorrow night’s draw to see who he will be drawn against next. One observation that I would make about Stephen, as noted by Mike Hallett and Dave Hendon tonight in the Eurosport commentary box is that this format may just suit the Scot as I do feel that just over the past couple of seasons, Stephen has regularly started matches well before missing a few shots and tending to lose his way. At least over the shorter format he doesn’t have the chance to do so!
In terms of the rankings, the result moves Stephen up two places back into the top 10 ahead of Graeme Dott and Mark Allen while Mark Davis will now need a good run in the upcoming EPTC2 event and to hope that Peter Ebdon and Matthew Stevens falter.