Another early start at the South West Snooker Academy and at the time of writing, there are also a couple of potential upsets on the cards as Mark Williams trails Zhang Anda 3-1, while Mark Allen is level at 2-2 with Adam Wicheard. Click below for my thoughts throughout the day…
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10:48 – At the Academy bright and early, I decided that as today will be the last chance for the foreseeable future that I will be able to take photographs of most of the players, I would tailor my schedule accordingly and head for those of which I am in short supply. From that point of view, I headed down to watch young Joel Walker, but as it would turn out, he would find himself on the wrong end of a masterclass from Dominic Dale, breaks of 105, 94, 73 and 113 seeing the Welshman through to the next round.
I also managed to catch a frame of the match between Scott Donaldson and Paul Davison, as the Scottish youngster moved 3-1 up to leave himself within a frame of the second round. From what I have seen of him so far in his short career, Scott looks to be a very promising young player indeed and one worth keeping an eye on over the next couple of seasons.
Back up in the combined practice room/media centre, Tony Drago is giving a few local school children a demonstration, why didn’t that ever happen to me when I was at school?
Preston’s Ian Burns is also hanging around, having successfully made it through to the last 16 yesterday, while Paul Davison has taken the next couple of frames against Scott Donaldson to force a decider.
Both were pushed hard, but Mark Williams and Mark Allen are both through to the second round following victories against Zhang Anda and Adam Wicheard respectively. By all accounts Zhang had chances to see off Williams 4-1, but could not take them and from there Mark was able to turn things around.
12:08 – The final 9am matches have now come to a conclusion, with Ricky Walden coming through against young Joe O’Conor and Dechawat Poomjaeng surviving a tie with Dylan Mitchell to reach the last 64. In a perfect demonstration of just how tough the main tour is these days, following an excellent break of 75 from O’Conor to force the decider, he then only had one more shot as Walden potted a long red from his break-off, before going on to win it with 89.
17:55 – So much for regular updates, unfortunately that is sometimes just how these PTC events can unfold sometimes.
Following the Walden match I headed over with Roland from Snooker Island to catch a few frames of the match between Graeme Dott and Matt Selt, eventually won by Dott who looked to be pretty sharp. Since then Graeme has then gone on to defeat Ken Doherty in a deciding frame to set up a last 32 match with either Ali Carter or Craig Steadman later this evening.
Elsewhere there was a lot of interesting chatter between a few players up here in the media area, after which I headed down to catch the closing stages of the match between Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sean O’Sullivan. Trailing 2-3, the first chance in the next frame fell to Sean as he began with red/blacks, before electing to take the pink at one stage. The crucial moment though came when he was attempting to cut back a red with the extended rest, only to feather the cue ball and leave the chance for his opponent. Referee Olivier Marteel had not spotted it and neither had Un-Nooh, but Sean’s honesty was to prove costly as Thepchaiya then cleared with 70 to secure a 4-2 victory.
As Tony Drago found his form yesterday, Jimmy White looks to have done the same as he then defeated Un-Nooh in the second round to set up a last 32 clash with either Judd Trump or Simon Bedford later this evening.
On the subject of Judd, he was given a real scare earlier in the day by reigning Snookerbacker Classic champion Martin O’Donnell, before coming through in a deciding frame. It was a hard match to sum up, a number of what I can only describe as crazy flukes coming in the last two or three frames, but it was Judd who was able to get over the line and win his first ranking match as world number one.
The man who Judd replaced as world number one was Mark Selby and earlier in the day I managed to catch him for the latest of my player interviews for PSB, which I will hopefully be able to bring you this weekend or early next week. Many thanks to Mark for his time and for some interesting answers.
20:25 – Back from food and with some fascinating last 32 matches in prospect, it is time to head around the tables and see what is going on. As Ali Carter and Craig Steadman head into a decider, that looks to be the one to see…