The quarter-finals of this week’s PTC Grand Finals are now underway and already we have one result in as Martin Gould picked up from where he left off last night with a 4-2 win against Michael Holt…
For those of you expecting the live chat, I hadn’t realised that it was not on TV this afternoon so will put it up later on when the Eurosport coverage commences…
PTC Finals 2011: Saturday Results
Quarter-Finals
Martin Gould 4-2 Michael Holt
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Marcus Campbell
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Stephen Lee
Mark Williams 3-4 Mark Selby
Morning
Martin Gould became the first man through to the semi-finals of the PTC Finals with a 4-2 win against Michael Holt this morning.
Early on though it was Michael who made the early running, moving 1-0 and 2-1 ahead with top breaks of 48 and 39. Following a scrappy fourth frame however it was Martin who suddenly found his scoring boots, breaks of 96 and a match-clinching 100 clinching his spot in the last four where he will face either Mark Williams or Mark Selby who face off in the final match of the day.
For Michael meanwhile the result is a disappointment as I am sure he would have liked to have won the event for his father who is not in the best of health at the moment, but his exploits this week have at least ensured that he should hang on to a top 48 spot at the end of the season.
In the second match meanwhile, Welshman Matthew Stevens has also maintained his strong recent form with a 4-0 win against Marcus Campbell to also book his spot in the last four. Breaks of 62, 49, 42 and 56 were enough to deny Marcus even a frame, despite the Scot making a run of 60 in the third. Next up for Stevens will be the winner of the next match, that between Shaun Murphy and Stephen Lee.
Evening
At 3-1 down against a flying Stephen Lee the situation looked bleak for Shaun Murphy but the 2005 world champion respond in fabulous style to take the next three and a 4-3 victory.
Seeing his opponent move into that 3-1 lead with an excellent break of 100 in frame two, Shaun Murphy looked to be deep in trouble but soon responded well with a century of his own from nowhere, an excellent 116. It was the next frame that proved to be pivotal however as having seen Stephen establish what looked to be a frame-winning lead, Shaun stepped up and potted a stunning long red under the circumstances before clearing the table with a break of 68.
Heading into the decider Shaun must have been feeling good and for a while looked like he might take it in one-visit before a stroke of bad luck when going into the reds saw him on nothing. Eventually though a poor shot from Lee left him in perfect position and Shaun was to make no mistake.
Three world class frames from Murphy to finish it, he will now meet Matthew Stevens tomorrow while Stephen needs at least one more win to move up into the provisional top 16…