Judd Trump was a victim to a performance that you could describe as a machine like one. For the opening few frames he played wonderful stuff and Wenbo was unable to pot a ball in the opening three frames as he went 3-0 down. A 78 from Liang kept him in it at the interval but another 50+ break put Judd 4-1 ahead and seemingly cruising. That was when the machine turned off. From there Judd missed plenty of easy balls and bad positional shots and gave Liang plenty of chances (particularly in the last two frames) in order to come back and fall over the line a 6-4 winner.
Mark Selby meanwhile pulled off a Houdini like performance to beat Jamie Jones, despite two centuries from Jones and a very poor performance of his own. Selby was 2-0 down early and could have lost the opening four frames but somehow found himself level at 2-2. He then trailed 3-2, and 4-3 and could've trailed 5-3 but he managed to win the eighth frame after needing a snooker on the pink. In the tenth he managed to escape from a poor position again as Jamie Jones needed only the last red and after laying a nasty snooker he must have thought he was in with a great chance but it wasn't to be as Selby cleared and then made a nice break to win the decider.
On Tuesday, Mark Allen fell to Martin Gould after a good performance from Martin who is trying to better his runners up position in the seasons opener in Bendigo. His next opponent is Joe Swail who was a surprisingly comfortable winner against Michael Holt 6-1, showing that Joe's recent laser eye surgery has worked wonders on his game while Holty was very disappointed with his display in that one on Monday night.
Monday afternoon also saw a comfortable win for John Higgins 6-2 against Ali Carter, who said afterwards that he was suffering from abdominal pain caused by the Chrone's disease he suffers with and said that that makes a big difference against players like John. Roughly 24 hours afterwards Shaun Murphy was a comfortable 6-2 winner himself against Ben Woollaston in another good performance from the Magician as he has now only dropped 4 frames on the way to the Last 16.
As well as the drama with Judd tonight, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh missed the final black for a 147 in his match against Neil Robertson which would have been worth £44,000 to the Thai player. Overall, it was a good display that included a new tournament high break of 145 to come through a 6-2 winner. Marco Fu also came through avenging his International Championship quarter-final loss to David Gilbert winning 6-3.
The big result though was the final one to come in after Dechawat Poomjaeng with his brilliant character and all the rest of it beat Mark Joyce from 5-0 behind. This was a result that Nigel Bond achieved against Barry Hawkins last year and it really affected Barry's game and without Mark Joyce having the same liberties of being ranked so high and having that to fall back on, I hope the same does not happen to Joyce now.
Last 32 Results:
Peter Ebdon 6-3 Stuart Bingham
David Grace 6-4 Jack Lisowski
Martin Gould 6-4 Mark Allen
Joe Swail 6-1 Michael Holt
Liang Wenbo 6-4 Judd Trump
Tom Ford 6-1 Kyren Wilson
Marco Fu 6-3 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Neil Robertson 6-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Stephen Maguire 6-4 Mark Davis
Jamie Burnett 6-3 Li Hang
John Higgins 6-2 Ali Carter
Luca Brecel 6-2 Robin Hull
Matt Selt 6-3 Robbie Williams
Dechawat Poomjaeng 6-5 Mark Joyce
Mark Selby 6-5 Jamie Jones
Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)
Peter Ebdon Vs David Grace - To lead the Last 16 draw we have a big match for both players. One of Peter Ebdon, David Grace, Martin Gould or Joe Swail will be in the semi-finals of this years tournament and given where each player is ranked they could get a huge boost with a minimum of £30,000 for getting to the last 4. David has been flying so far in the tournament with crushing wins against Higginson and Milkins before beating Jack Lisowski and so far he seems to be riding a wave, playing without a care in the world. On TV in a the biggest match of his entire career by a long stretch this is going to be hugely different though. Peter has the experience needed to get over the line in these situations and by beating Stuart in the last round he has shown that he still has what it takes to cut it on TV at the top level and you have to make him the favourite to win here because once again he appears to have found some form.Martin Gould Vs Joe Swail - This is the second of many massive matches in the draw, for reasons I mentioned above and these two are pretty evenly matched. In the last round Martin was able to get on top of Mark Allen with good safety play and then take his chances as they came along, scoring well as always. Joe Swail was on form as well against Michael Holt as he was in round one against Joel Walker and it can be put down to the laser eye surgery that has not only improved the key to snooker of eyesight, but also must have really raised his self-confidence. He knocked in some great long pots against Holty but still needed plenty of chances to kill it off. If Martins safety is as good as it was against Allen he will not necessarily get those chances and have to score much better otherwise Gould's good form will carry him through.
Liang Wenbo Vs Tom Ford - Yet another significant game here for two guys outside of the top 16 to get into a major quarter-final and both will be feeling the pressure. Liang certainly felt it needing six good chances in the final frame against Trump to take care of the match, and Judd's poor snooker and easy misses really let him right back in from a position where the situation looked pretty helpless. Tom Ford has been flying this week so far. He has scored heavily in every single round, coming from 5-3 down to beat Mark Williams and then thrashing in form Kyren Wilson 6-1. He says he is feeling as good as he has in a long time and the results and breaks he is knocking in really are showing that. Even though Liang has been good in the tournament to this point, and Ford will be under a different kind of pressure and expectation in a big TV match, you feel Wenbo will have to bring it up a notch to get victory here.
Shaun Murphy Vs Marco Fu - This is a big match for a totally different reason. If either play has looked at the draw (Shaun always says he doesn't look too far ahead and sometimes I have to tell him who he is playing in the European Tour events) they will know that if they can come through here they would certainly be a favourite in every match between now and the final, not that things are ever that easy. This is also a repeat of an epic match from the Last 16 of last years event where Shaun was 5-3 up and lost, after snookering himself on the yellow when he looked certain to win the decider too. That was a big moment for Shaun in my opinion and he has channelled the frustration created by that loss into winning the Masters and making the World Championship final since then. Now he has a chance to complete the cycle almost as he was playing great coming into that match with Fu last year, but he is striking it even better this year and just as well as he did during the Masters and World's this year. Fu has been going along nicely this week away from the TV tables and has gotten to this stage dropping 5 frames to the 4 that Murphy has. I think Shaun is as focussed and pumped up for this as he was on those Masters and World runs, and when he gets like that he can be unstoppable and will not be underestimating Fu so will have to be at the top of his game to come through, but that almost makes the job even clearer.
Neil Robertson Vs Stephen Maguire - Another blockbuster awaits here between Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson with both guys playing very well. Both were pushed in their Last 32 encounters, with Robertson having to sit and watch as Thepchaiya nearly made a maximum and came out the next frame with a 145 break, and there has been no problem with his scoring at all. The same is true for Maguire who had to fight hard both in the first round against Jimmy White scoring well to come back into the match, but he made two centuries on the way to victory against Mark Davis. After failing to score a point from 1-4 to 4-4 to finish strong with two more breaks of 50 and above showed that Maguire is certainly not here to make up the numbers in York this week. Since losing to Neil at the last 8 stage in the 2013 UK Championship, he has beaten Neil in the quarter's of the 2014 Masters, 2014 Ruhr Open and the 2015 German Masters so his recent record is good and after a semi-final at last years event I think he could go a lot further this year.
John Higgins Vs Jamie Burnett - John Higgins is still flying with his new found form that saw him win the International Championship a month ago, and he has only dropped 5 frames in reaching this stage of the UK Championships. You would think this match with Jamie should be a breeze but it will not be as simple as that. Jamie has been playing nicely and won his first three matches pretty comfortable with some heavy scoring and he has plenty of experience in these big matches just as John has. Burnett has not had a big match like this for some time though and John will not be in the mood to be giving hand outs as he appears to be on a serious mission in York.
Matt Selt Vs Luca Brecel - This is another incredibly important match for two ever improving players with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. Luca Brecel was on fire in 2012 to make the quarters, while Matts best was a run to the Last 16 last year before running into Ronnie O'Sullivan who whitewashed him with a maximum. Matt has been steadily on the up since then and this would be another big step but to get to this stage he has had to really grind out some results, particularly when nearly losing from 5-2 ahead to Zhang Yong and against Robbie Williams in a tough match. Luca Brecel however is flying. Conditions were tough in his match with Anthony McGill which may have played into Anthony's hands as Luca would prefer a freer flowing game. That was what he got against Robin Hull where he may have benefitted from a couple of Hull's errors but he scored very well to take advantage with a century and two breaks of 80+ to finish the match off after losing the sixth on the black, showing his ability to block these events out. We all know how talented Brecel is and this could the tournament where he really breaks through from the pack. Getting to the latter stages was not something that happened regularly after he nearly made the semi's here in 2012 but a semi-final at this years Welsh Open and some good results on the European Tour has pushed him well and truly back in the right direction and I was impressed with his safety in that run. He is developing nicely and Selt is going to have a real handful here to win.
Mark Selby Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng - This is going to be a fascinating match after two great escapes from both players to get here. Neither should have won in the Last 32 quite frankly as Mark was much the worse player against Jamie Jones, while Dechawat was five down with six to play against Mark Joyce. Mark played very well in his first two games, so I am not entirely sure what happened against Jones. If it is only a minor blip and after coming so close to losing, if he can kick on from here he could easily win the tournament, as his display of grit and determination last night showed two things. The first is how very tough Mark is to beat and the second is how reminiscent it was to some of his displays of character in 2012 when he went on to lift the title. Dechawat Poomjaeng is a tough player to take seriously at times. His results are inconsistent and the 2013 World Championships introduced many of us to his amazing antics and all the rest of his character but he is a good player on his day. Not only was there the comeback against Joyce but he thrashed in form Ryan Day 6-2 in the Last 64 so is clearly going along strongly but Selby may be a step too far.
Now that we are down to a two table set-up for the Last 16, every match will be on TV. This is a massive opportunity for guys like David Grace, Tom Ford, Luca Brecel and Matt Selt amongst others whose appearances on the BBC are few and far between and it will be good for the public to see some new faces on their screens across the next couple of days. With it being two tables, this also means it really feels like we are coming towards the business end of the tournament as the crowd closes in and that should create a great feel for these last five days of the event. With some real quality left in the draw it is still very tough to pick out who will come out on top on Sunday night, and you will all have your favourites wherever you are watching from and I hope you are all enjoying the event.
Next up from me will be a preview ahead of Friday's quarter-finals.
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