With the qualifiers for the inaugural Bahrain Championship taking place next week, it is time to have a quick look at the recently released draw and explain the four first round byes that have been given…
Tag: Mark Davis
Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008 Qualifiers: Day Two (Morning)
Day two, round two of the Grand Prix qualifiers in Prestatyn. Click below to read what has happened so far in the morning session:
Royal London Watches Grand Prix Qualifiers: Day One (Afternoon)
Following a morning session which went largely the way of the experienced players, it was the turn of the young guns to hit back this evening. Click below to read exactly what has happened:
Belgian Open 2008: Quarter-Final Results
The quarter-final results are in from Belgium, please click below for further details:
Belgian Open 2008: Last 16 Results
So it’s the final day of the Belgian Open and the first matches of the day have now been completed. To view the results in full including frame scores, please click below:
Belgian Open 2008: Last 16 confirmed
Day two of the Belgian Open is complete and here are the scores from the first of the knockout matches to be played today as stated here:
Last 48:
John Parrott MBE 3-0 Stein De Sterck
Danny Lathouwers 2-3 Dave Harold
Kevin Van Hove 1-3 Speltincx Mario Geudens
Johan D’Hondt 3-1 Nick Vanhee
Alain Vandersteen 3-1 Guy Hendrickx
Yannick Poulain 1-3 Ricky Walden
Tom Ford 3-1 Luca Brecel
Julius Grauls 3-1 Anthony Van Loocke
Stefan Mazrocis 3-0 Gregory Kopec
Steve Lemmens 3-0 Jurgen Van Roy
Andrew Higginson 1-3 Jamie Cope
Chris Henry 0-3 Michael Holt
Lasse Münstermann 3-1 Jurgen Van den Bossche
Yvan Van Velthoven 0-3 Gerard Greene
Dominic Dale 3-0 Tino De Witte
Kasra Khavaran 3-0 Marc Dierens
Last 32:
Mark Selby 3-0 John Parrott MBE
Barry Hawkins 1-3 Dave Harold
Mark Davis 3-0 Mario Geudens
Mark King 3-1 Johan D’Hondt
Neil Robertson 3-0 Alain Vandersteen
Bjorn Haneveer 0-3 Ricky Walden
Jimmy Michie 0-3 Tom Ford
Ryan Day 3-2 Julius Grauls
Stephen Maguire 3-0 Stefan Mazrocis
Matthew Stevens 3-0 Steve Lemmens
Ken Doherty 2-3 Jamie Cope
Joe Perry 3-0 Michael Holt
Graeme Dott 3-0 Lasse Münstermann
Stuart Bingham 2-3 Gerard Greene
Mark J Williams MBE 3-1 Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy 3-2 Kasra Khavaran
With all of the local amateur players unfortunately now out of the tournament, this at least leaves a mouthwatering line-up in the last 16 tomorrow morning. With the lowest ranked player still in the tournament being the in-form world number 58 Mark Davis, the final day should be the best yet.
Last 16 lineup:
Mark Selby v Dave Harold
Mark Davis v Mark King
Neil Robertson v Ricky Walden
Stephen Maguire v Matthew Stevens
Jamie Cope v Joe Perry
Graeme Dott v Gerard Greene
Mark J Williams MBE v Shaun Murphy
As a side issue, the highest break of the tournament remains the 142 made by Australia’s Neil Robertson on day one.
2008 Royal London Watches Grand Prix: Qualifying Draw
The qualifying draw for the 2008 Grand Prix has today been made available and be viewed here. As usual the matches will be held at Pontin’s, Prestatyn from the September 22-25 and the winners will then be drawn at random against the top 16 players for round 1 of the TV stages.
Jimmy’s Path
Unbeaten at Pontin’s so far this season, Jimmy White has been paired with reigning IBSF World U-21 champion and snooker ‘hotshot’ Michael Georgiou in round 1. Having lost his first two matches of the season Georgiou will be hoping for better against White, though given the Whirlwind’s current form it won’t be easy. Indeed there is nothing easy about this section of the draw with the winner facing David Gray in the next round, with Michael Holt and finally Michael Judge awaiting further down the line should they win that match. If Jimmy wants to reach the TV stages of a third straight event therefore then he will have to play at his very best once again.
Tie of the Round
At the very bottom of the draw in what is on paper the most intriguing match of the first round are the experienced Matthew Couch and promising Geordie youngster Stephen Craigie. Having both made the third round in the Shanghai qualifiers last week, both will be confident and it should be a close tussle between players with 16 years between them. If Craigie can prevail against someone with so much experience however, it will provide further evidence that he is the real deal as well as the reward of a match with the in-form Mark Davis in round 2.
Roewe Shanghai Masters Qualifying – Day Four (updated)
Today marked the final day of the Shanghai Masters Qualifiers and other than the match involving Liang Wenbo and Atthasit Mahitthi which has been held over until the venue, all of the matches have now been completed. Click here for the full draw.
Afternoon Matches
Day to remember for legends
With 14 world championship finals and six world titles between them both Steve Davis and Jimmy White are undoubtedly snooker legends, but success in recent years has been somewhat harder to achieve. Today however, both showed that they still have the talent and they still have to hunger for the game by winning their final qualifying matches this week and qualifying for the TV stages of the Roewe Shanghai Masters later this month.
First to win was Jimmy White who recorded a stunning 5-1 win over 1997 world champion Ken Doherty. Again as in many of his matches this season White’s performance wasn’t one full of high breaks, but his determination and ability to fight this week was enough to beat an opponent playing his first ever match at Prestatyn. With the venue being as small and as intimate as it is, Ken can be forgiven for being a bit lost away from the TV venues that he has become accustomed to, but he will nevertheless be disappointed with this latest setback. Hopefully he will be back though, Ken is one of the nicest guys on the tour and is still classy enough to fight with the best.
White was then joined in the TV stages by six times world champion Steve Davis who recorded a very impressive 5-3 win over the dangerous Gerard Greene. Greene on the back of a good win yesterday against Steve’s namesake Mark was always going to be a tough but to crack but breaks of 64, 50 and 54 were enough to see him home. Davis will meet defending champion Dominic Dale in Shanghai in what is bound to be another close match.
Fellow veterans follow suit
Northern Ireland Trophy finalist Dave Harold kept up his brilliant form today with an excellent 5-1 win over Rod Lawer. The most impressive aspect of Dave’s performance today was his scoring which with breaks of 62, 84, 44, 83 and 41 ensured that Lawler was always on the back foot.
Similarly impressive was Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien who won 5-3 in what was a high quality encounter with Ian Preece, highlighted by a break of 137 in the penultimate frame. Preece who yesterday recorded the highest break of the week and of his career fought well to level the match at 3-3 but Fergal moved up a gear when he had to and sealed the win.
Also progressing were Anthony Hamilton who won 5-1 against livewire Michael Holt and interestingly the 1995 World semi-finalist Andy Hicks who won his third match of the week in beating Michael Judge 5-2. In a match where nearly every frame seemed to go the distance, Hicks managed to follow White’s example and keep his nerve in these situations
Youth hits back
The veterans didn’t have it all their own way today however as Joe Swail slipped to a 5-3 defeat against teenager Judd Trump. In a performance highlighted by a tremendous break of 135 Trump showed some of the promise that has put him up to a career high position of 41 in the rankings to earn a match with Mark Selby in the last 32
Evening Matches
Welsh Wins
Two of the most comfortable wins tonight belonged to Welsh pair Matthew Stevens and twice world champion Mark Williams who both recorded 5-1 wins tonight. Stevens overcame Alan McManus, gaining some measure of revenge following defeat to the Scot in last week’s Northern Ireland trophy. Williams meanwhile beat Mark Joyce by the same scoreline as his quest to regain a place in the top 16 goes on.
Big Breaks
The match of the day however was that between Stephen Lee and Leicester’s Tom Ford. Ford started brilliantly with a run of 106 which set him on the way to a 4-1 lead and seemingly a comfortable win. Lee showed his class however and fought back well taking the next three frames. With the scores level though, Ford finished off the match as he started it with his second century of the match to seal an excellent win.
Similarly Stuart Pettman secured a place in Shanghai by winning the last two frames in his match against Nigel Bond to win 5-4. The match got off to a flying start with first Bond making a break of 119 before Pettman went one better with a 120 and then 114 to move into the lead. Bond then fought back to go 4-3 ahead following a lengthy seventh frame but it was Pettman who was to prevail and earn a shot at world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan in Shanghai.
Five star performances
Less close however were the matches involving Jamie Cope and Stuart Bingham. Cope, looking to break into the top 16 for the first time this season managed to see off Welshman Jamie Burnett without losing a frame whilst Bingham did likewise against 36 year old Mike Dunn.
Today’s results in full:
Round Four
Steve Davis 5-3 Gerard Greene 19-65(50), 80(64)-34, 74(50)-0, 68-18, 65(54)-25, 40(30)-70(40), 60-68, 57-34
Dave Harold 5-1 Rod Lawler 92(62)-0, 84(84)-0, 71(44)-38, 83(83)-4, 36-61, 53(41)-6
Fergal O’Brien 5-3 Ian Preece 80(50)-53(39), 57(57)-66(48), 66(39)-12, 74(50)-0, 37-74, 0-90(82), 137(137)-0, 63(36)-18
Ian McCulloch 2-5 Ricky Walden 66-44, 70(40)-13, 8-46, 46-63, 50-73(42), 0-69(40), 14-73(35,38)
Joe Swail 3-5 Judd Trump 0-135(135), 69-22, 38-54, 42-64, 77(66)-16, 73-63, 0-92(92), 52-65(38)
Ken Doherty 1-5 Jimmy White 37-92(44), 28-73, 0-82(82), 24-80(42), 88(50, 38)-0, 8-70(37)
Anthony Hamilton 5-1 Michael Holt 62(32)-39, 66(52)-54, 76(76)-32(32), 61(43)-14, 48(44)-83(72), 71(67)-28
Michael Judge 2-5 Andy Hicks 66-67(38), 67(40)-54(54), 79-6, 25-69(39), 0-71(59), 23-86(82), 43-73(64)
Barry Hawkins 5-2 David Morris 73(56)-12, 66-54(54), 6-85(70), 67(47)-21, 49(44)-70(38), 87(49)-4, 103(103)-0
Stuart Bingham 5-0 Mike Dunn 70-34, 71(38)-36, 94(68)-52, 74(74)-10, 70-42
Stephen Lee 4-5 Tom Ford 0-106(106), 9-71(71), 87-25, 14-81(45,35), 13-69(56), 64(36)-14, 71(56)-64, 65(40)-1, 0-138(100)
Mark Williams 5-1 Mark Joyce 97(38,37)-4, 53(41)-54(37), 101(77)-4, 68(67)-43, 76(38)-28, 63(39)-60(35)
Matthew Stevens 5-1 Alan McManus 67-37, 70(46)-43, 81(80)-0, 74(73)-28, 1-83(69), 69(36)-28
Jamie Cope 5-0 Jamie Burnett 69-48, 71(42)-45, 67(33)-55(55), 81(48)-1, 62(45)-17
Nigel Bond 4-5 Stuart Pettman 119(119)-18, 0-120(120), 1-115(114), 74-49, 70-1, 0-88(88), 66-13, 47-72, 13-72