2006 Grand Prix champion Neil Robertson remains on track for a second title tonight following a comfortable 5-2 victory over Irishman Ken Doherty. Click below for news on that and the match involving Joe Perry and Barry Pinches…
Click here to see how the results have affected the provisional rankings.
Neil Robertson 5-2 Ken Doherty
95(94)-4, 70(40)-33, 89(45)-14, 22-73, 14-64(49), 77(77)-31(31), 89(88)-43(34)
The first chance in the match fell Doherty’s way following a missed black from his Neil when attempting to split the reds. Unfortunately for Ken however he could score just four points before missing a straightforward red and could only look on as Robertson went ahead with a break of 94.
This set the tone for the next few frames as Ken continued to labour, missing several pots and by the time Neil had opened up a 3-0 lead had a high break of just 13. He did snatch the final frame before the interval to give himself hope however and for a short while it looked like this could prove crucial as he took frame five to get himself right back into the match too.
Neil though responded well in frame six with a frame-winning break of 77 and though Ken had his chances in the seventh, it never really looked like being his night and Neil duly sealed the win with a break of 88.
It is a disappointing way for Ken to see his revival come to an end and hopefully it will not prove to be too damaging a defeat to his confidence with the UK and Masters qualifiers approaching. Neil though will now be fancying his chances of that second Grand Prix crown, particularly with Ronnie O’Sullivan now out and it will be interesting to see who he will play in the last eight…
Joe Perry 5-2 Barry Pinches
63(46)-11, 59(36)-25, 70(64)-53(37), 61-20, 45-64, 0-65, 60-24
Joe Perry moved into his first quarter-final since last year’s UK Championship in Telford with a comfortable 5-2 victory over Norwich’s Barry Pinches tonight.
Before the interval it looked like being a very short match indeed as despite not scoring particularly heavily, Joe managed to take all four frames to need just one more when they resumed. Barry to his credit stuck to his task and got his reward by taking the next two frames to apply some pressure to a player who has not been accustomed to winning this year, but Joe managed to wrap things up in frame seven to put his name in the hat for tomorrow’s quarter-final draw.
Having come into the tournament well outside of the top 16, this run has been a much needed boost for Joe already as he now moves up to number 17, but with so many of the ‘top’ players now out of the event, he will be hoping for much more yet…