Shaun Murphy carried on his winning ways with a second victory in consecutive events against Liang Wenbo, with the Chinese managing just one frame across those two meetings. One of the matches billed as match of the round did not live up to expectation as Judd Trump eased through 4-1 against Martin Gould whose only contribution was a 135 break in frame four. It was the same story when Ryan Day took on Kyren Wilson as Wilson was not at his best missing several shots with the rest while Day scored heavily to run through a 4-1 winner.
Mark Allen was the benefactor of miss of the season from Mark Davis at the start of their deciding frame as the Northern Irishman came through 4-3. Barry Hawkins had to grind in his match with Michael Holt but a good clearance in the final frame saw him take out the Hitman 4-2. Ricky Walden meanwhile seemed to find some form in his match with Tom Ford with some brilliant scoring there making Walden a 4-1 winner after a month off from competition and a very poor season.
Finally, there was one major casualty as Mark Williams poor season continued with a 4-3 loss to Dominic Dale in which Williams played quite poorly. Having not qualified for China next week he then went to Twitter and voiced his opinion that it would probably be Ponds Forge next for him for World Championship qualifiers, but looking at the provisional seedings it would take an unlikely turn of events to nudge him from provisional 13th seed out of the top 16.
Last 32 Results:
Matt Selt 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Jimmy Robertson
Dominic Dale 4-3 Mark Williams
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Liang Wenbo
Mark Allen 4-3 Mark Davis
Mark King 4-2 Sam Baird
Ryan Day 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Mike Dunn 4-1 Rory McLeod
Marco Fu 4-3 Alan McManus
Ricky Walden 4-1 Tom Ford
Judd Trump 4-1 Martin Gould
Ali Carter 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ding Junhui 4-1 David Gilbert
Michael White 4-2 Luca Brecel
Robert Milkins 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Michael Holt
Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Matt Selt Vs Ben Woollaston - Matt Selt was obviously in the 'lucky loser' situation when he was called up to replace Mark Selby and this match here with Ben Woollaston looks like a close one. Woollaston scraped past Jimmy Robertson in the last round and did not seem to play as well, while Matt Selt was very solid against Andrew Higginson and I think he has his eyes very firmly on a big run this week to put himself in contention for a top 16 seeding at the World Championship. This could go all the way but I think Selt has a slight edge.Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale - Dominic Dale scored well in beating Mark Williams but Williams was out of sorts in that match and you would say that Dale will have to improve even further to beat Shaun Murphy here. Murphy has been flying of late and continued to show that form I round one in Manchester and he would love to win back to back ranking events. His scoring power and long potting could be too much for Dale if they continue on as they have been for the last couple of weeks.
Mark Allen Vs Mark King - Another battle of the marks with Allen and King and this could be another close one for both players. Allen will go in as favourite and you would fancy him to win against King to be fair to both players. King will need to grind away to win this or heavily up his scoring power which is probably where he falls down against the top players these days. If he can put Allen in trouble in the safety department though, then it could be a different game.
Ryan Day Vs Mike Dunn - Ryan Day was superb last night in dispatching Kyren Wilson. His scoring was excellent just as it was in the early rounds of the World Grand Prix. Day has been threatening a big run for a number of months and he certainly has the game right now to go on through to the semi-finals or even beyond that and put his name firmly in the ring for an automatic seeding through to the World Championships. Mike Dunn played well at the end of his match against Rory McLeod and when these two met in the Welsh Open he competed well with Day but in the end it was the Welshman's scoring that got him over the line and I think that could be the same story here.
Marco Fu Vs Ricky Walden - This is another tight match to call here in round two as most of these matches are to come in the bottom half of the draw. However, the one really positive sign in round one was the return to some form of Ricky Walden and I think that is long overdue. It's tough to keep a player like Walden down for too long and if he can keep his rhythm going this week then he is an incredibly dangerous player. Fu has been struggling too in recent months and was a very lucky man to get through against Alan McManus, but I do not think he will be so lucky here is Walden scores as heavily as we know he can and as heavily as he did in round one.
Judd Trump Vs Ali Carter - Matches between Ali Carter and Judd Trump are usually quite enjoyable and I am sure todays will be no different. Trump mopped up against a sloppy Martin Gould in round one but did not quite seem to be at his best in my view. He has struggled for any consistency at all this season and did not sound very confident in his interview after beating Gould. Ali Carter meanwhile played well in my opinion at the World Grand Prix and at the start of the week I fancied him to carry that on here in Manchester. He started well against Dott and won that match by outscoring him as I expected he would. If he is on his game, which he certainly was not when the pair last met in this years German Masters, then he is more than a match for Trump in all areas of safety and scoring and he will not give in if Trump starts off well either.
Ding Junhui Vs Michael White - This is quite an important game today with the implications of the provisional seedings for staying in the top 16 for the World Championships. The one thing that strikes you is how both players would deal with that. White is very emotional and puts lots of pressure on himself as you can see in most of his matches and that will not usually lead to results. Ding meanwhile has been very calm on the subject and played very well with recent runs at the Welsh Open and Grand Prix and I fancy him to carry that good form on in this match after he was solid against Gilbert in round one. White was struggling against Luca Brecel in round one but Brecel (possibly distracted by events back home in Brussels) went off the boil at 2-0 and made some basic mistakes to let White back in, but he will not enjoy the same luxuries today so he will certainly need to up his game.
Barry Hawkins Vs Robert Milkins - Finally, we have another good little match up between Hawkins and Milkins. Both had to grind it out in their matches yesterday as they were not at their best at all. Milkins did not have a break of 50+ in a 4-1 win against Tian Pengfei and against the top players that simply will not get the job done and it will not do against Hawkins today. Barry did what he needed to when he needed it most against Michael Holt with the clearance to win 4-2 and he did have some quite bad luck at times in the match that stopped him being more clinical. Safety play could be the key aspect of this game as it is an area where Hawkins is usually better than Milkins who will need to up his game in all areas to win this.
A cracking set of matches here for today then over best-of-7 frames and i'll be back to look ahead to more best-of-7 frame matches in tomorrows quarter-finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment