Day two in Sheffield and as the second round of the Welsh Open qualifiers was played to a conclusion at the EIS. Click below for a round-up of the day and links to the latest updated drawsheet and projected seedings list…
- Click here to view the updated Welsh Open drawsheet
- Click here to view the latest projected seedings
Among those through to the third qualifying round this evening was Scotland’s Anthony McGill, who recovered from 2-0 down against China’s Yu Delu to record a 4-2 victory. Remaining calm and looking controlled when in amongst the balls, McGill now moves on to a clash with Gerard Greene tomorrow for a place in the final qualifying round.
Joining McGill in the next round was Sam Baird who after his impressive performance yesterday in which he recorded two century breaks, hit another tonight to defeat Li Yan 4-1. Next up will be former world finalist Nigel Bond as the youngster looks to qualify for a second venue in quick succession, having recently qualified for the last 32 of the Haikou World Open.
Elsewhere there was a hard-fought 4-2 win for Xiao Guodong against Ireland’s David Morris, to keep Xiao’s hopes of a place in the top 48 at the next seedings revision alive. To stand any chance however, Xiao must also defeat Mike Dunn tomorrow and hope that Jimmy White loses to Preston’s Ian McCulloch in the morning session. Another who was in with a chance of leapfrogging White with a couple of wins was Ben Woollaston, but the PTC3 winner was a 4-1 loser today against David Gilbert.
Looking at the race for the final top 64 spots, Joe Swail’s hopes were brought to an end today by Dave Harold, a comprehensive 4-0 winner of their match. Taking advantage was Alfie Burden who won the all-On-Q battle with Jimmy Robertson today to move up into 64th place and will remain there unless for example David Gilbert or Rod Lawler are able to progress as far as the last 16.
Daniel Wells may have won his second match of the season yesterday, but today his run was to end against Mark Joyce who came through a 4-3 winner to book a tie with Joe Jogia tomorrow. Lucky Vatnani continued his strongest run of the season with a 4-1 success against the struggling Barry Pinches, while Kurt Maflin was a 4-2 winner against Malta’s Tony Drago.