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Updated Tournament Draw
Day 3
The first televised match of the day featured the world no.1 and German Masters champion Mark Williams against the canary cueman and last year's PTC4 champion Barry Pinches. It was a scrappy-hard fought affair for the first two frames as Mark eventually took a 2-0 lead.
This pattern continued throughout the rest of the match as the Welshman won 5-2. Mark will need to up his game against David Gilbert tomorrow though as his pot success percentage was in the low 80's in his match. After the match Mark said:
"I was unhappy with every part of it. It's about getting through but you don't want to play like that. Sometimes you get a sense of making 30s but there was nothing today."
"We both dragged each other down; I was missing everything and he was missing everything."
"The tables were excellent, really fast, and totally the opposite to what we played on last week and it caught me out a bit. I have no chance in my next match if I play like that."
World cup players Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty were on the other table in the morning. Ken was less than impressed by his performance for Ireland in the world cup last week but he more than made up for it today as he beat Maguire 5-2 and looked to be in fine stead. It is a great result for the Irishman who didn't have much to speak for last season. Ken spoke after the match:
"I played pretty well and I'm delighted to have beaten such a tough opponent," said Doherty. "It's been such a long time since I've beaten someone of Stephen's standard, a top eight player."
"I can't remember when it would've been but it wasn't last season. I beat Neil Robertson to get to the quarter-finals in the Shanghai Masters the year before last and beat Mark Selby in the Grand Prix."
"But this is a good start for me, not just the win but the nature of it and that's what gives you the confidence. If you struggle to a win you don't feel so good but I won pretty well and closed it out well. I'm delighted to have won this game and certainly feel a lot better."
"I didn't perform last week in the World Cup and was disappointed. I didn't help Fergal (O'Brien) as much as I would've liked and that was disappointing as we didn't play to our potential."
"But I'm feeling grand now. I've been staying with my wife's family in Melbourne and it's the first time they've seen me play live."
Ken will now face the resurgent Liang Wenbo in the last 16 who came through in the afternoon against Matthew Stevens in a nailbiting 5-4 victory which included Liang making a 147 attempt but found himself snookered on the final yellow. Liang has a dreadful season last year and dropped out of the top 32 provisionally. But after his win in the world cup last week he looks to be back in form.
Unfortunately though that match wasn't televised but we did get to see the battle between former 2-times Masters champion Mark Selby and last month's PTC1 runner-up; Joe Perry. Recently having joined On Q Promotions Joe looked to be playing near his best again as he beat several strong players in Sheffield but he failed to capitalize on a 3-0 lead as Mark eventually won the match 5-3. Selby will now play namesake Mark Davis for a place in the quarter-finals.
The evening brought about another two shock results to a tournament full of shocks as UK quarter-finalist Stuart Bingham beat Masters champion Ding Junhui 5-2. Ding had narrowly beaten the player from Essex in the last 16 of the World Championship earlier in the year and Stuart managed to get some amount of revenge for that as he capitalized on a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval to win the match 5-2 even with Ding making breaks of 104 and 123.
Stuart is a very dangerous player when at his best and stands a good chance of finally reaching the top 16 for the first time of his career when the rankings are updated in a few months. Bingham said after the match;
"It would mean the world to me to get into the top 16 and I've started off well this season."
"Ding is one of the players I'm not scared of and I feel my game is up there with his."
And in another surprise, qualifier Matthew Selt continued his great run of form after beating John Higgins yesterday he went another step further and beat the 7-times world champion Stephen Hendry 5-1 in their last 16 match. Matthew goes through to his first ever ranking quarter-final to face Shaun Murphy on friday.
It is another great result for the Romford based player who practices at the Grove academy with the likes of Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski. Stephen will not be happy with himself by this defeat and after his decent 5-3 victory over Martin Gould he will need to put in a better showing at the upcoming PTC events. Matthew had this to say after his match:
"I think I've surprised a few fans but not players. I've practised with Ronnie (O'Sullivan), Neil (Robertson), Joe Perry and Stuart Bingham and they pick balls out of the pocket as well so they know I can play and win.
"Beating John was massive for me. That match was like my final. When I went to the Grand Prix (in 2009) I wanted to get to the venue and see if I could compete.
"It was the same here and against John he had me beaten but I managed to get back from it.
"I'm not thinking about the tournament or how far I could go, I'm just trying to win every match so being in the quarter-finals hasn't really registered.
"But for someone that started in (qualifying) round three to get this far is a good achievement."
Quotes courtesy; World Snooker
DAY 3 RESULTS
Last 16:
Stephen Hendry 2-5 Matthew Selt
Last 32:
Mark Williams 5-2 Barry Pinches
Stephen Maguire 2-5 Ken Doherty
Mark Selby 5-3 Joe Perry
Matthew Stevens 4-5 Liang Wenbo
Ding Junhui 2-5 Stuart Bingham
Centuries:
Ding Junhui 124, 104
Liang Wenbo 120, 111
Stuart Bingham 107
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