Day five of the 2009 Pukka Pies UK Championship qualifiers saw the start of round three, and there were big wins for form players Rory McLeod and Robert Milkins to take them to within one match of reaching the tournament proper. For news of those matches and a further six played today, read on…
Note that the provisional rankings have now been updated.
Recent Pro Challenge winner Robert Milkins continued his excellent form this year with another win today, this time against one of last season’s form players Martin Gould. It was a tight match early on as the pair found themselves level at 3-3, but crucially it was Robert who managed to take the last two frames of the session to open up a small cushion. Ultimately this proved to be enough as he completed the job in the evening session to win his eighth ranking event match of the season. He has put in a lot of work over the last year or so and as he continues to consistently win matches, it looks to be paying off! Next up for him is an intriguing match with Stephen Lee, a player who has not been in the best form recently but remains capable of beating anyone on his day.
Today also saw further impressive wins for Peter Lines, Rory McLeod and Craig Steadman as the trio look to qualify for their first venue of the season.
Having completed a dramatic win over Xiao Guodong on Wednesday with a century break in the deciding frame, Peter managed to do even better today, completing a 9-6 win over Ian McCulloch with his third century of the match. Having made breaks of 80, 69 and 68 himself, Ian was not playing badly but Leeds’ Lines is playing some of the best snooker of his career at the moment and breaks of 114, 105, 101, 74 and 60 to list just a few were enough to see him through. Having won each of his 11 first round matches since reclaiming his tour place, only Nigel Bond is standing between him and his first venue stage in that period. Not an easy match by any means however…
Craig Steadman meanwhile is also producing some good snooker at the moment and today pulled off what has to be one of his biggest wins to date, beating veteran Scot Marcus Campbell in a final-frame shoot-out. As he has shown this season by twice defeating Judd Trump in ranking events and coming close to upsetting Stephen Hendry in Shanghai, Marcus is not in bad shape himself and leading Craig 5-3 after the first session, looked to be heading to another victory.
Steadman was having none of it however and eventually managed to come through to set up a tie with 2006 world champion Graeme Dott. He will go into that match as an underdog but he has been practising hard and you never know.
The ranking event season might not have been good for Rory McLeod up to this point but his victory in the Masters qualifying tournament was a notable triumph and if today’s result is anything to go by, appears to have given him a lift. Not only did he managed to win his match 9-3, but his opponent was the inspired Matt Selt who until this point had been unbeaten in 11 matches at Prestatyn. Next up for Rory will be Fergal O’Brien, a player who is playing better than his results might suggest at the moment.
Results
Friday 27th November 2009
Alan McManus 6-9 Thepchaiya Un Nooh
71(54)-11, 72(43)-46(42), 51(51)-79(79), 53-55, 14-63, 0-101(101), 24-61, 71(71)-53(53), 66-23, 78(56)-56(56), 0-69(45), 1-76(68), 83(51)-35, 58(47)-69(57), 3-66(44)
Mike Dunn 9-6 Andy Hicks
68-17, 80-9, 47-68(68), 11-106(54,43), 26-69(68), 121(56,61)-0, 75(74)-18, 59-65(51), 48-64, 5-72, 72-0, 85(42)-`6, 73(41)-45, 74(74)-55(39), 68(41)-15
Martin Gould 5-9 Robert Milkins
75(53)-49, 58-68(68), 43-69, 66-39, 32-66, 49-19, 13-58, 0-84(58), 117(53)-28, 20-79(58), 0-91(45), 78(58)-0, 41-3, 0-71(64)
Rory McLeod 9-3 Matthew Selt
98(44)-0, 46-87(44), 50-23, 108(64)-0, 102(102)-0, 52-1, 58(41)-23, 45-56, 57-26, 17-72(72), 84(45,35)-34(34), 83(71)-0
Ian McCulloch 6-9 Peter Lines
0-72(34,33), 80(80)-19, 42-76(60), 39-69(47), 69(69)-1, 24-60, 61(43)-17, 60-70, 6-87(74), 66-65, 0-105(101), 72(68)-64(58), 0-123(105), 76(40)-0, 0-114(114)
Marcus Campbell 8-9 Craig Steadman
68-43, 70(50)-15, 53-67(49), 32-68(66), 63(46)-41(41), 0-89(57), 65(58)-0, 116(92)-6
Jimmy Michie 9-7 Ben Woollaston
14-77(76), 123(45,71)-7, 31-88(68), 94(73)-16, 68-17, 54-34, 12-63, 70(45)-24, 23-63(61), 25-67(56), 64(55)-80, 86(59)-32, 1-69, 60-52(51), 75(70)-29, 67-9
Dominic Dale 9-6 John Parrott
63-31, 0-74(46), 69(48)-24, 4-79(79), 48-62, 43-82(64), 131(100)-0, 29-84(60), 76(67)-37, 80-32, 64(36)-4, 93(92)-16, 63(40)-5, 0-95(95), 61-29