Race for the Crucible – Updated Projected Seedings
After last night’s tension, this evening was a somewhat quicker affair as all of the matches were completed within a couple of hours. Click below for the scores…
Evening Session:
Mark Williams 5-2 Dominic Dale
Joe Perry 5-1 Ali Carter
Stephen Maguire 5-0 Ricky Walden
Mark Williams defeated friend and countryman Dominic Dale by a comfortable 5-2 scoreline tonight to book his place in the quarter-finals. The first two frames went by in no time before Dale responded by taking the third to keep himself in the match. Mark though played very well to win a scrappy fourth frame before the interval and from there was largely untroubled, a tremendous century break along the way helping him to victory. I did not see him this morning but on that evidence he looks to be in very good form and moves up to second in my latest projected seedings list above Neil Robertson.
First through this evening though was Scotland’s Stephen Maguire who demolished Ricky Walden 5-0 to earn a quarter-final against Graeme Dott. I have been saying for a while now that Stephen is due a good result but for whatever reason it has not quite happened yet, perhaps this could be his week. He will have to offer more against Graeme Dott in the next round than he did at the Crucible last season though.
Finally, the returning to form Joe Perry managed to shock Ali Carter this evening, recording a 5-1 win to earn a clash with Mark Williams. Since changing his cue at the start of the season Joe has struggled to get used to it but is now showing signs that he is returning to something like his best form and should provide Mark with a good test tomorrow.
Click here to view the updated drawsheet.