While the Crucible draw has today been revealed, a look back at yesterday’s action here as the final ten qualifiers were confirmed on another dramatic day at the EIS in Sheffield…
Ten years ago at the Crucible, Ken Doherty completed one of the all-time great comebacks against the late Paul Hunter to reach his third World Championship final and back in Sheffield yesterday, it appeared as though he might be about to turn back the clock against world number 46 Matt Selt.
Trailing 9-4 and having struggled for much of the match, defeat looked to be only a matter of time for the Irishman, but as he came out of the blocks after the final mid-session interval with a break of 128, he embarked upon a comeback which would eventually see him level up at 9-9 before a captivated crowd at the venue. Trailing 55-0 in frame 17, it looked as though Ken’s comeback would be in vain at that stage, only for a series of strong pressure pots to help him on his way back to parity, a do or die green standing out in particular.
As can often happen in such a situation and as Selt alluded to after the match however, perhaps the pressure transferred back on to Doherty having brought himself level and though he was not able to take advantage of a few half-chances early in the decider, it was Matt who was able to hold himself together to get himself over the line.
It has been a while coming for Matt, but having appeared at most of the other major venues now, he will now make his début at the Crucible Theatre with a match against world number two Mark Selby. In many ways, as impressive as his victory against Doherty was, one of the most crucial frames of his qualifying run this week in fact came against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon in the previous round, as he made a brilliant clearance of 83 to level at 6-6.
Another player who will make his début at the Crucible this year will be Sam Baird, who by all accounts produced a terrific performance to defeat 2008 semi-finalist Joe Perry 10-3. I saw little of the match, but heard spectators raving about him after his victory and breaks of 142 (the highest of the week), 86, 78, 77, 63, 62 and 53 speak for themselves.
Having come through deciding frame finishes to defeat Peter Lines and Rory McLeod in previous rounds, Sam showed that he has what it takes to win matches more comfortably and on this evidence, could give Stuart Bingham a run for his money if the Premier League winner is off his game.
Along with Bingham, another SightRight player who will be at the Crucible is Martin Gould, after the Pinner Potter came through a tough match with Rod Lawler to come through 10-7. Following a 59 minute opening frame, Martin was able to win the next two to lead 2-1, before falling 4-2 behind at the close of a curtailed opening session.
From there Martin was to struggle to get his nose in front, however as they resumed on table five at 7-7, he was able to make the breakthrough to lead 8-7 and from there was able to power to the line. A far more impressive victory than it perhaps looks on paper, the win sees Gould set up a tie with Shaun Murphy at the Crucible in a repeat of their previous matches at the UK Championship and PTC Grand Finals.
I spoke with both Martin and his coach Steve Feeney of SightRightUK shortly after his victory, which you can listen to here
Elsewhere, Peter Ebdon made it 22 successive Crucible appearances as he edged past the impressive Kurt Maflin 10-8 in one of the last matches to finish yesterday. Winning the final frame of the opening session to close to 4-5 having needed two snookers, Kurt was well in touch heading into the evening session and stayed that way as the scoreline moved on to 8-8.
It was Peter though who was able to get the over the line, taking the last two frames to set up a repeat of the 2006 final with Graeme Dott in Sheffield.
His run having captured the imagination of his legion of supporters over the course of the past week, Jimmy White was to fall at the final hurdle as On Q stablemate Robert Milkins was to prove too strong for the Whirlwind, running out a 10-5 winner.
Following the match Robert said that it felt ‘brilliant’ to qualify and spoke of how difficult it was to play Jimmy having grown up watching him at his peak. He said that he is a better all-round player now, if not quite as fluent as in his younger days and spoke of the help that Terry Griffiths has given him in recent years as he has climbed back up the rankings having dropped into the 50’s at one stage.
Also able to make it back to the Crucible for the first time after a long absence was Scotland’s Alan McManus, who recorded an impressive 10-5 victory against Tom Ford to qualify for the first time since he dropped out of the top 16 in 2006.
The higher-ranked player, Tom was clearly struggling out there for whatever reason, but take nothing away from Alan, who in particular hit a brilliant break of 90 to lead 8-5 at the final interval and all but kill the match off. Again Alan spoke after the match and I will post his quotes in a separate interview later during the week.
Rounding up the final results, Dominic Dale made it three years in a row at the Crucible with a 10-5 victory against Alfie Burden, while Mark Davis, Mark King and Marcus Campbell also booked their places at the venue during the course of Sunday evening.
As ever, it has been another memorable week at the EIS for this final qualifying round, full of high-quality, high drama and some good old fashioned tension with precious places at the Crucible up for grabs.
I hope that you have all enjoyed my updates from the venue, though with the 17 day marathon of the mind that is the Crucible still to come, this is as ever only just the beginning. I will of course be at the venue for the full 17 days, so stayed tuned to PSB during the rest of this week as I build up to the tournament, as well as during the main event itself for all of the latest news and insight from behind the scenes.