The final two matches of the day saw Dominic Dale come up against Marco Fu while the recovering Graeme Dott met Barry Pinches. Click below to read what happened…
Marco Fu 3-5 Dominic Dale
Welshman Dominic Dale today became the latest qualifier to progress into the next round as he edged past a struggling Marco Fu 5-3, having at one stage led 4-0.
Dominic started quite well scoring with breaks of 59 and 50 to move 2-0 ahead, but he by no means was at his best as he began to struggle and miss a few balls. Marco Fu however was even worse and following a very poor miss from Dale in frame three, could not take advantage and soon let Dale in for 3-0. This became 4-0 at the interval as without making any significant breaks, Dominic was able to capitalise on the errors from his opponent.
Frame five was where it all began to change however as in an incredibly scrappy affair, Dale twice went in-off with the cue ball and Fu continued to struggle to make a frame-winning break. He finally managed it with a 44 however and gave himself something to build on as breaks of 78 and 66 brought him right back into the match. In frame seven in particular, Dale was beginning to look very edgy and Marco must really have fancied his chances of completing a great comeback.
Dominic however got another chance in frame eight and to his relief managed to take it as he secured a 5-3 win to halt Fu’s momentum. While he did not play great, he deserved to win the match and now finds himself into the last 16 at the very least. Depending on Steve Davis’ participation however, this could turn into a quarter-final spot, news on that when I get it.
Marco meanwhile will be disappointed with how he started the match, arguably the worst I have ever seen him play during those first four frames. He did fight back well after the interval, but he will be hoping for better at the UK Championship.
Graeme Dott 3-5 Barry Pinches
The first match to be completed tonight saw Norwich’s finest, Barry Pinches, defeat Graeme Dott for the second time this year to move into the last 16 here in Bahrain.
In what was a very entertaining match, Pinches started well with a break of 88 to take the opener, but a 53 in the next wasn’t enough as Dott levelled it at 1-1. Barry was playing well though and with further good breaks of 68 and 74 put him 3-1 up at the interval.
Graeme, who was playing his first match since he broke his wrist playing football in Shanghai, responded brilliantly given the circumstances however. He made breaks of 45, 52 and a terrific century break of 110 to bring himself back to 3-3, giving himself a great chance to pull off an unlikely win.
It was not to be for Graeme however as Barry took his chance in frame seven, making a century break of his own before completing the win in a scrappy eighth frame. He will now meet the winner of tomorrow evening’s match between Stephen Hendry and the Shanghai Master, Ricky Walden.
Still though, this is a very encouraging performance from Graeme who despite his broken wrist, managed to put in a good performance and will leave the event happy that he could compete to such a high standard. Hopefully he will be able to get some more practice in ahead of the UK Championship next month and win his first ranking event match of the year in Telford.