Day two from the Academy saw Jimmy White come through his opener early on but the star of the show was undoubtedly Tian Pengfei, click below to read why as well as an update on the situation regarding starter points in the rankings…
Day Two Results:
Adrian Gunnell 5-4 Sam Baird
Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Andrew Pagett
Jimmy White 5-2 Paul Davison
Liu Chuang 3-5 Andrew Norman
Rod Lawler 5-3 David Morris
Joe Swail 1-5 Yu Delu
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Robin Hull
Peter Lines 3-5 Kurt Maflin
Liu Song 3-5 Sam Craigie
Anthony McGill 1-5 Tian Pengfei
Ian McCulloch 3-5 Ben Woollaston
Andy Hicks 1-5 Scott MacKenzie
Alan McManus 1-5 Li Yan
Xiao Guodong 2-5 Liam Highfield
Alfie Burden 2-5 David Gilbert
Matt Couch 5-4 James Wattana
Rankings Update
As a few of you have noticed today, last night as I updated my projected seedings list, I have made some fairly significant alterations to the starter points of a few players, namely James Wattana, Simon Bedford, David Gilbert, David Morris, Kurt Maflin and Adam Wicheard.
Previously as those players had competed on the tour last season, I had given them their points that they earned for 2010/11 rather than the starter points awarded to newcomers.
Kurt Maflin
It has however emerged via Hermund of WWW Snooker that Kurt Maflin has been informed that he will be given a clean slate and see his points upgraded to starter points, a significant benefit for a player who would otherwise have started some way down the list.
Having made further enquiries I have also been informed that all newcomers to the 2011/12, including those such as Gilbert and Morris who survived via the Q School will also be equalised and given a clean slate so to speak. Hopefully there will be confirmation from World Snooker at some point soon but at the moment that is the information that I have so have amended my list accordingly.
I will continue to update my list but at this stage with various crucial factors still to be confirmed, my list is very much subject to change and should be used as a guide only.
EDIT: Since writing this post it has also been confirmed that players on tour last season who earned more than the starter points last season will in fact be allowed to keep those points.
The Matches
With wins over the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Davis in wildcard matches over in China recently, many are aware of the threat posed by tian Pengfei but he today underlined his talent with a sensational performance to defeat Scotland’s Anthony McGill by a 5-1 scoreline. As described by referee Jan Verhaas on Twitter, Tian notched up breaks of 117, 107, 104 and a 95 which only ended with a miscue on the blue before the break. Anthony got one on the board after the interval but it was only to delay the inevitable as Tian took frame six to book a tie with Anthony Hamilton tomorrow.
Otherwise it was a mixed afternoon for China, Yu Delu also following his countryman through by the same 5-1 scoreline against Joe Swail but Liu Chuang and Liu Song both exited at the hands of Andrew Norman and Sam Craigie respectively. Sam’s latest win was particularly impressive as following a four hour match against an opponent with significantly more experience, it was the Geordie youngster who emerged the stronger. Can he repeat the feat against Fergal O’Brien.
The other long match of the day so far saw Adrian Gunnell come hit a top break of 122 en route to a narrow 5-4 victory against Sam Baird, a much-needed win for Gunnell against a very capable opponent. Next up for Adrian will be Matt Selt tomorrow morning.
Elsewhere there were good wins for Jack Lisowski and Jimmy White while Rod Lawler recovered from 3-1 down against Ireland’s David Morris to record an important win with the veteran’s top 64 place on the line at the moment. In truth I think that Rod is too good a player to be that low in the rankings but his lack of results during the PTC could cost him dear…