I will shortly be heading off for sunny Sheffield for the first day of this year’s World Championship qualifiers and as in previous seasons I will pop up a detailed report on my return tonight.
That said, I will also be providing regular updates on Twitter throughout the day and hopefully will be able to update this blog post from my phone with the key moments. That’s the plan anyway!
For all the latest scores, please click here.
Morning Session
When I arrived at the venue I hurried over to check the scores just in time to see James Wattana complete a break of 141, an early contender for the pre-tournament high break prize. Leading 2-0 he was looking good but in both of the next frames, failed to take advantage of chances to steal them from opponent Justin Astley who to his credit drew level at the interval.
In the other match I was watching to begin with, Sam Baird and Thanawat Thirpaongpaiboon look fairly evenly matched, Sam perhaps just edging it.
Perhaps surprisingly, Michael Judge has just gone into the interval of his match with a 4-0 lead against Liu Song. Frame four was particularly tight and Liu had a shot at the black on its spot to take it, but it wobbled and Judge duly knocked it in.
Dermot McGlinchey too has just taken a 3-1 lead following a black ball frame in his match against Kyren Wilson…
Sam Baird secures a narrow 5-4 advantage at the end of a thoroughly entertaining session. The last two frames were high quality in particular as Sam hit a 133, unfortunately missing the final black to the right centre for what would have been 140, before Thirapongpaiboon hit back with 76. One observation about Sam is that is does take a few moments to think between shots, but once down on it he is very quick indeed.
James Wattana meanwhile leads 6-3, taking the last three of the session. Justin has not played badly but I sensed the feeling that he was doing well to hang on early in the match and unfortunately he could not sustain it.
Liu Song’s nightmare continues as having looked like getting back into his match with Michael Judge at 1-4, he then lost a protracted sixth frame and the one after it to now trail 1-6. As I write this Judge has just missed on 43 when in and well-placed to win the frame. Liu must capitalise and win the next to give himself a realistic chance tonight…
Meanwhile Kyren Wilson is struggling here, would have expected him to defeat Dermot McGlinchey but in what is proving to be the slowest match of the session he has not got going yet.
Just stopped Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon for a photo, I bottled it though and didn’t attempt to say his name.
Big frame for Kyren to make it 4-2 and he added the next three to turn things around against Dermot, leads 5-4.
Afternoon Session
After spending some time chatting to Ben Woollaston (top guy), we headed in to catch the afternoon session and found that David Gray was already trailing 2-0. Echoing his shocking last year against Jimmy Michie, Gray at the time of writing now finds himself 5-0 down and is understandably looking frustrated out there.
Strangely however, not quite as frustrated as David Gilbert who despite being level at 2-2 looks like a very angry player indeed! Playing a number of his shots at quite a firm pace (think the opposite of Mark Williams), and giving the table a whack after each miss, he will have to be careful not to keep his emotions in check should the match go the distance. That said, David Morris hasn’t got going at all so far and on this early evidence I still fancy Gilbert to win.
Patrick Wallace predictably has moved into a 4-0 lead against Del Smith while Stephen Rowlings and Paul Davison are locked at 2-2. Perhaps surprisingly their match has been quite quick so far, bearing in mind Paul’s late nights last week during the China Open qualifiers.
Morris is now 4-3 ahead thanks to a well-taken 77. That said he still doesn’t look to be playing that well to me and Gilbert certainly looks the more likely to make the long balls. If either player can string 2-3 frames together then it could be enough.
Liu Chuang’s lead is now up to 7-1, Gray avoiding the whitewash but that is about it.
As an aside the tables that I have seen do look to be playing slowly, whether that is due to the fact that it is quite cold in here I am not sure.
Another frame for Morris, a poor miss on the green to left-centre was Gilbert’s undoing there.
Gilbert though takes the last of the session to keep close at 4-5 overnight.
Evening Session
Fabulous start to the evening session as James Wattana rolls in a break of 98 to extend his lead to 7-3. Again, he might not be as consistent as he was but James remains a class act. Unlucky not to make a ton, missed the yellow to the right centre.
Sam Baird too has started well with 56, though Thirapongpaiboon now has a chance to counter…has missed on 28 however, should be 6-4 now.
But not without a scare! TT (it’s quicker typing this on my phone!), got the three snookers he needed and then got another after Baird had sunk the green. He could not pot a long pink however and a relieved Baird sunk it to finally secure that two frame lead.
Wattana adds another, no big break this time though.
The second frame between TT and Baird after what started as a good tactical duel eventually became scrappy. TT takes it with a good brown/blue/pink though and it’s 6-5.
And James Wattana is our first winner by a comfortable 10-3 margin. Very good performance as he keeps his top 64 hopes alive.
Second man through is Kyren Wilson who recovered from 4-1 down to defeat Dermot McGlinchey 10-5. I only caught the last couple of frames this evening, by which point Kyren was obviously confident and wasted little time in making two big breaks, finishing the match with a fine 102.
Meanwhile Michael Judge from leading 6-1 earlier looks to have completely gone and Liu Song looks set to draw level at 7-7. You never know in snooker but I would be surprised to see Liu falter from here…
As the match nears its conclusion the stakes and therefore the pressure is raised however and Song begins to show sign of weakness. Judge moved back in front at 8-7 and made a good break to force a re-spot in the next. It was to no avail though as an attempted double to the yellow pocket wobbled and Song stepped up to make it 8-8.
Thirapongpaiboon now leads meanwhile, another turnaround…
Joe Delaney is through with a win against Igor but being on the far side I could not watch much of that.
Also through is James McBain, a 10-9 winner against Issara Kachaiwong after a topsy turvy match. The key moment in the decider was a snooker from James behind the yellow, the error from which allowed him to get back to the table and leave his opponent needing a snooker.
Having seen his lead eradicated Sam Baird has responded brilliantly, a gutsy 22 followed by a clearance of 80 putting him back ahead at 9-8. Can TT force a decider?