Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008 Qualifiers: Day Three (Afternoon)

Day three at Prestatyn and the competition is hotting up for the 16 places in the main draw in Glasgow. Click below to read what has happened so far in the afternoon session:

Morning Session

Seeds remain on top

As in the morning session, this afternoon once again belonged to the seeded players as all eight managed to progress to the final qualifying round tomorrow.

This meant that it was the end of the road for youngsters Vincent Muldoon and Li Hang who having won their first two matches this week, both fell to their vastly experienced opponents today.

It must be said though that Muldoon did make a great fight of it against Adrian Gunnell, fighting back from 4-1 down to level it at 4-4 and force a deciding frame. Gunnell’s experience ultimately proved to be too much for Vinnie though as he took the frame and earned a match with Stuart Bingham tomorrow.

Li Hang similarly lost out to Marcus Campbell who having made a slower start, eventually went on to win 5-3. Still it has been a good week for both Hang and Muldoon who will be better for the experience of having a few matches under their belts. Campbell meanwhile now has a tough match with Jamie Cope for a place in Glasgow.

Young duo march on

Two of the younger players to win today were 21 year old Liang Wenbo and 19 year old Judd Trump who both triumphed over less experienced opposition tonight. Trump faced in the in-form Aditya Mehta who made a career best 140 yesterday and ended up winning the match 5-1. Next up for Bristol’s finest is Stephen Lee in what will be a rematch of their clash in Northern Ireland last month.

Crucible semi-finalist Liang Wenbo meanwhile took a 5-3 victory against the impressive David Grace, another player in his third match of the week. Hopefully Liang will be able to put aside any concerns about the investigation into his match with Peter Ebdon last month and keep up his good form as he meets Nigel Bond tomorrow.