Alfie Burden (photo courtesy of On Q Promotions)
Day Three from the Academy in Sheffield and it has so far been a strong day for the seeds, all but three of them emerging victorious today from the first eleven matches played.
Click below to read quotes from Alfie Burden following his win today together with a summary of the day’s action so far…
Robert Milkins and Peter Lines have been two of the form players during the past couple of seasons and their clash today was predictably tight as Robert emerged the victor to book his place in the last 48. He started well to lead 3-1 at the interval before Peter responded brilliantly to level at 4-4 with breaks of 120 and 61 to force a deciding frame. Robert though was able to break that with runs of 42 and 40 to set up a tie with former top 16 player Joe Perry tomorrow afternoon.
Anthony Hamilton (photo courtesy of Janie Watkins)
No other matches have so far gone the distance in today’s third round but that does not mean that there was no drama elsewhere as Alfie Burden will testify. Trailing Scottish veteran Marcus Campbell by 3-0 nearly on today, Alfie’s bid to qualify for Shanghai was hanging by a thread but it was the fourth frame, that before the mid-session interval that was to prove the turning point as he took it in one-visit with a break of 78 to keep himself in the match. From there there was no stopping the former world number 38 as he rattled in breaks of 68, 61, 50 and 46 to clinch a place in the final round where he will face Andrew Higginson.
Here are some quote from Alfie courtesy of Janie Watkins:
“I lost two tight frames, a respot black and a pink ball frame and I was 3-0 down.
“But I took the frame before the interval and after that I don’t think I missed a ball to win five in a row.
“It was a really good win for me from 3-0 down.
“I’ve played in China once before, in Beijing about four years ago and I lost to the wildcard. So I really want to get through to Shanghai and make amends.
“I’ve never played Andrew (Higginson) before and never been to Shanghai.”
Of the tour newcomers I think that Alfie is probably the one that most would want to avoid early on thanks to his experience and I see him doing some real damage this season, similar to how Tony Drago did during 2009/10 perhaps.
While on the subject of experienced players, it was also a good day for Anthony Hamilton, Ian McCulloch and Joe Swail who have all struggled recently but managed to come through and record important wins today. For Joe in particular it was a big match as without a ranking match win since this tournament exactly a year ago, he desperately needed a good start to the season in order to get some points on the board to stop him falling further still down the rankings. Now outside the top 32 it may be that he can get some confidence boosting wins on the board and come back stronger from that drop.
Michael White (photo courtesy of Janie Watkins)
It was not such a good day for another veteran however as Nigel Bond lost out to the unheralded Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon who defeated the former World Championship finalist 5-1 to reach the final qualifying round of an event at the first attempt. Standing between Thanawat and a shot at Marco Fu (or more likely a wildcard), in Shanghai now is Mark Davis.
Finally the battle of the Scots was won by Jamie Burnett today as he edged out James McBain to book his place in the last 48. He will now face Michael Holt for the right to face Ronnie O’Sullivan out at the venue.
Evening
In the evening matches, arguably the most impressive win was that of talented Welsh youngster Michael White who defeated countryman Dominic Dale by a 5-2 scoreline. Rather ironically, Dale is currently sponsored by an Austrian film-maker called…you guessed it, Michael White, but it was the snooker player who came out on top today to book a fascinating tie with Peter Ebdon.
Another Welshman through is Jamie Jones who recorded a 5-1 victory over Adrian Gunnell, while there are three other matches still to be concluded at the time of writing…