Following yesterday’s Premier League final, today has seen the professionals enter the latest PTC event in Sheffield as the last 16 have played down to the last 16. Click below for a round-up of the day’s main stories…
First man through to the last 16 this evening was reigning world champion John Higgins with victories against David Hogan, Adrian Gunnell and then old-rival Stephen Hendry as the two Scots played out a terrific match this evening on the livestream.
The first opportunity in the match fell to Higgins but with a miss on 50, Hendry was given an opportunity to strike back with enough left on the table for him still to take the frame. Though it was not to be enough as an attempted cannon on the final red on 38 saw it travel just too far to be taken into the left-centre, Hendry was to deliver a trademark clearance of 66 in frame two to level the match at 1-1.
Having come through against Daniel Wells and Martin Gould earlier in the day, it was becoming apparent that Hendry was actually playing pretty well, despite losing so heavily to James Wattana at the same venue just a matter of days ago. As he moved 2-1 ahead with a break of 86 to the pink it was evident that he was right in the match.
It goes without saying however that Higgins can never be written off and he duly hit back, taking the next frame thanks largely to a break of 66 before a further 72 saw him lead for the second time at 3-2. He then had a chance to wrap up a 4-2 victory in the next frame but could not make the most of it and Hendry was to step in with a break of 110 to force a decider.
The first opportunity in the seventh frame was to fall to Higgins and though there was to be something of a twist as he ran out of position on 67, the four-time world champion was not to be denied and the handshake came as Hendry missed a tricky red along the cushion and left it invitingly in the jaws of the pocket.
Next up for Higgins will be a mouthwatering clash against Australia’s Neil Robertson on Wednesday after the two-time PTC event winner defeated the brilliantly named William Lemons before adding the scalps of On Q Promotions duo Mark Allen and Gerard Greene in subsequent rounds. Neil has been one of the most consistent players in these events so far this season and it would be no surprise to see him go all the way again this week.
Also through to the last 16 are Jamie Cope and Rory McLeod after both saw off an amateur apiece as well as adding the scalps of two professionals to their respective victims. For Rory his most impressive result was a 4-1 victory against Scotland’s Stephen Maguire while Jamie did well to defeat Liu Song who had earlier played some terrific snooker to defeat the in-form Mike Dunn and Steve Davis before him.
Earlier in the day the first-round had seen few upsets, Anthony Hamilton, Alan McManus, Michael White and the aforementioned Steve Davis the most notable, while Jack Lisowski was able to avenge his defeat to Sam Craigie last week with a 4-1 win.
In the second round Ali Carter was to be the next to fall, Ben Woollaston taking their match with an excellent break of 83 in the decider while Stuart Bingham, Tom Ford, Ryan Day and Andrew Higginson were also to fall.
A shout out for Chris Norbury too who defeated Anthony Hamilton and Matthew Stevens to set up a third round tie with Andrew Norman which he currently leads 3-1 at the time of writing.