German Masters 2011: Hendry, Swail secure vital wins

Updated Seedings List
Day two from Berlin and we have seen vital wins for out of form duo Stephen Hendry and Joe Swail, while Ding Junhui also moved safely into the last 16. Click below for the days results so far while I shall also update the projected seedings shortly…

Day Two Results so far:

Last 32:

Graeme Dott 5 – 1 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Mark Selby 5 – 1 Nigel Bond
Stephen Hendry 5 – 2 Judd Trump
Peter Ebdon 5 – 3 Andrew Higginson
Ding Junhui 5 – 1 Matthew Stevens
Joe Swail 5 – 3 Mark Allen

Wild Card Round:

Daniel Wells (a) 5 – 2 Liu Song
Anthony McGill w/o Mario Wehrmann
Robert Milkins 5 – 1 Lasse Münstermann

Following his poor start to the season, seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry was badly in need of a win this morning against young Judd Trump and that is exactly what he got, eventually running out a 5-2 winner. Having dropped the opening two frames, Judd took the third to keep himself in the match but by taking both frames either side of the interval, Hendry built a three frame cushion that he would not surrender.

Against a player of Trump’s ability that is a very good result for Hendry who will now go on to meet Mark Selby in the next round, the Leicester ace having defeated recently crowned Shootout champion Nigel Bond today. For Judd though it is for me another opportunity spurned to have a good run at a TV venue and put himself up the rankings. Interesting times for the ‘Juddernaut’.

EDIT: In Judd’s defence, there is a rumour that he is currently suffering from the flu somewhat. Not sure how accurate that is.

If Stephen’s form has been patchy however, Joe Swail’s has been so poor that he not yet guaranteed to remain on the tour next season. Today however, as he has done so often in his career, Joe produced a performance to defeat his higher ranked countryman Mark Allen and set up a clash with either Shaun Murphy or Ryan Day in the next round. The last time that Joe defeated Mark 5-3 at the last 32 of a ranking event he actually went on to reach the final of the Welsh Open in 2009. Could he shock again?

Elsewhere, Ding Junhui cruised to a comfortable 5-1 victory against Matthew Stevens, mirroring his comfortable UK win against the Welshman while Anthony McGill had an even easier win. wildcard opponent Mario Wehrmann turning out to be a no show.

There was at least one bit of joy for the wildcards as Welsh amateur Daniel Wells recorded a 5-2 victory against Liu Song to set up a last 32 tie with Stephen Maguire.