Snooker

Day Six:

MAIN NEWS: WILSON BEATS PERRY IN THRILLER, TRUMP ACE COMEBACK

Afternoon session:
Judd Trump came roaring back against Liang Wenbo to keep his title hopes alive after a dramatic 10-8 victory.
Liang won the opening frame of the session to stretch his overnight lead to 7-3. Trump needed 3 chances to seal the next after some extended safety play.
The Chinese star got in first in frame 12 before breaking down which allowed the Bristolian to get back into the frame and ultimately close to 7-5 after a second chance was taken.
From there breaks of 106, 69, 61 and 55 saw Trump surge to a 10-8 comeback win to seal a round two clash with Ding Junhui.

Meanwhile Marco Fu leads Anthony McGill 5-3 after the opening session of their second round encounter.
Fu started impressively with an 87 break before McGill won the 2nd frame with a run of 65.
Fu won the third after the two exchanged breaks of 54 and 51 but the mistakes were plentiful in the session and both players struggled to find the form shown in their first round matches.
Fu got to 4-2 before McGill narrowed to within one at 4-3.
McGill looked set to level at 4-4 but broke down on a break of 54.
That was to prove costly as Fu came back to clinch the frame and with it a two frame advantage heading into tomorrow.

Evening session:
Kyren Wilson beat seed Joe Perry 10-9 to win a quite brilliant first round match. The Cambridge man won the first frame of the evening to level at 5-5 with a 72.
Wilson then produced a magnificent 129 total clearance including a shot of the championship contender on a yellow with the rest to obtain position on a red around the angles.
Back came Perry to level at 6-6 before Wilson countered with a run of 60 to retake the lead at 7-6.
Perry returned after the interval in imposing form however and rolled in breaks of 59 and 80 to lead 8-7.
Back came a determined Wilson to level at 8-8 with a magnificent 58 clearance and then a sensational long red starter off the baulk cushion allowed him to win the next with a 62 break to retake the lead at 9-8.
An epic 57 minute frame 18 came down to the last four colours.
Wilson laid an excellent snooker on the brown behind the blue but unbelievably Perry got out the snooker and fluked the brown . Perry then fluked a snooker on the blue behind the black with the blue over the middle pocket.
Wilson fouled twice and with the black near the the same middle pocket as the blue Perry chose to take a free ball black but missed. Wilson potted the blue but overhit the pink that rattled in the jaws. Perry potted pink and black to force a decider. Wilson held himself together in the final frame though to win what was an absolutely fantastic match from start to finish.

On table one Ali Carter and Alan McManus played out a tough session of match snooker with Carter establishing a 5-3 lead.
Carter took the opener before the Scot replied with a 55 to level.
Carter then rolled in a fine 106 and won the next to lead 3-1 at the mid session interval.
McManus fought back though with breaks of 71 and 50 to level at 3-3 before Carter knocked in a 73 to lead 4-3 and won the last of the day to have a two frame advantage overnight.

Full second round draw:
Seed numbers in brackets.

Ali Carter v Alan McManus
John Higgins (8) v Ricky Walden (9)
Judd Trump (5) v Ding Junhui
Mark Williams (13) v Michael Holt
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marco Fu (14) v Anthony McGill
Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) v Barry Hawkins (11)
Mark Allen (7) v Kyren Wilson
Mark Selby (2) v Sam Baird

(21-04-2016 22:10 )snookered147 Wrote:  An epic 57 minute frame 18 came down to the last four colours.
Wilson laid an excellent snooker on the brown behind the blue but unbelievably Perry got out the snooker and fluked the brown . Perry then fluked a snooker on the blue behind the black with the blue over the middle pocket.
Wilson fouled twice and with the black near the the same middle pocket as the blue Perry chose to take a free ball black but missed. Wilson potted the blue but overhit the pink that rattled in the jaws. Perry potted pink and black to force a decider. Wilson held himself together in the final frame though to win what was an absolutely fantastic match from start to finish.

Yeah, that penultimate frame was quite amazing, especially how it finished. I'd still rather Perry won overall, though.

Marco Fu is the first man into the last eight after a 13-9 win over Anthony McGill.

Full review of the day to follow later.

No more Young Van Morrison jokes I clearly paid no attention last year if he made the quarter-finals!

Well done to Fu though

In the year when it's the anniversary of Shakespeare's death I was wondering if it may be a good bet to go for Sam Baird.

He's presently tied 4-4 with Mark Selby

Day Seven:

MAIN NEWS: FU IS FIRST MAN TO REACH LAST EIGHT

Morning session:
Mark Williams and Michael Holt began their quest for a quarter final spot. Williams got in first with a 42 but lost position and a counter of 61 won Holt the opener.
The Nottingham man then won the next to lead 2-0 and the third with a run of 68. The Welshman finally got on the board in frame four but Holt won the next with a 62 to regain a 3 frame advantage. Two scrappy frames which Williams dictated with good safety helped narrow the gap to 4-3.
The crucial final frame of the session saw chances for both men but Williams it was that clinched it to leave the match level going into the evening session.

Anthony McGill narrowed his 2 frame overnight arrears against Marco Fu to just one with a 57 break and then levelled at 5-5 with a 67 before winning the next to take the lead at 6-5.
The man from Hong Kong reasserted himself and won the next two frames which included a 102 break to lead 7-6.
The 14th frame was a topsy turvy affair which McGill won on the black to level again at 7-7. Fu won the last two frames of the session though to maintain his advantage going into the concluding evening session.

Afternoon session:
Ali Carter and Alan McManus played out a simply structured session of snooker short on high breaks but plentiful in hard match snooker. Several frames were tense affairs.
Four times McManus closed to within one frame and four times Carter pulled away again to a two frame lead.
McManus had the two highest breaks of the eight frames played with 77 and 71 but remains 7-9 down heading into the final session on Saturday.

Number two seed Mark Selby was slightly out of sorts in his opening session against qualifier Sam Baird.
Baird won frame one with a break of 50, Selby replied with a 53 to level and the next two frames were also shared.
After the interval both players found some rhythm.
Baird with breaks of 81 and 62, Selby with runs of 100 and 85 to leave the match poised at 4-4 going into day two of the match.

Evening session:
Marco Fu is the first man into the quarter finals after a 13-9 win over Anthony McGill.
McGill won the first frame of the evening to close to 9-8 down.
He had chances in the next two frames but positional errors cost him dear as Fu won both to lead 11-8 before then knocking in a 100 break to leave him four up with five to play.
Fu got in again in frame 22 and looked set for victory but missed a red near the winning line. McGill stepped in to ultimately close to 9-12 down.
But that was to be as good as it got for the Scot as the man from Hong Kong sealed the match in the next frame to progress despite a neck injury.

Fresh from a recovery from 1-4 down to 4-4, Mark Williams continued his resurgence with runs of 87 and 61 to go 6-4 up.
Holt replied with an 87 in winning the next couple of frames to draw level at 6-6. Williams pulled away again however to retake a two frame advantage at 8-6.
Holt had chances in frame 15 but failed to take them and poor safety shots that were a feature of his play for several frames cost him dear in the last frame of the day.
Holt trails 10-6 and ended up losing 9 out of the last 11 frames.
A mountain to climb in the final session tomorrow.

Alan McManus is through to the quarter finals after a 13-11 win over Ali Carter.

Full details in my review of the day later tonight.

Mark Williams has beaten Michael Holt 13-8

I find MacManus a far more fun prospect to cheer on than some of his countrymen. Whether it's this "Angles" nickname, which makes him sound like Snooker's answer to Barnes Wallis, I dunno