Day two, round two of the Grand Prix qualifiers in Prestatyn. Click below to read what has happened so far in the morning session:
Morning Session
White survives Gray fightback
Jimmy White made it eight qualifying wins from eight this season with another good 5-3 win over friend David Gray. Though not scoring as well as in his first round match, White raced to a 4-0 lead in no time and looked like winning with a high break of 57. Gray had other ideas however as he put the pressure on by rallying to win the next three frames to move just one away from levelling the match. White held his nerve though and aided by a break of 33 in frame eight, managed to close out the match 5-3. He now faces Nottingham’s Michael Holt tomorrow for a place in the final qualifying round.
Asian assault gains moment
The Asian duo of Atthasit Mahitthi and Jin Long soon joined Jimmy in the next round by also winning their matches this morning. Mahitthi, the 2007 World Amateur Champion, comfortably beat Martin Gould 5-2 in what was a good match with six breaks over 50. His reward is a match with former world champion in the third round tomorrow morning.
China’s Long meanwhile saw off Robert Milkins 5-3, doing well to respond to Milkins levelling the match at 3-3 following a slow start. He now faces Gerard Greene for the right to play Northern Ireland finalist Dave Harold on Thursday.
Back to reality
Following a wonderful performance yesterday to beat Andrew Pagett in a deciding frame, James McBain had nothing left to give today as he was whitewashed 5-0 by Walsall’s Mark Joyce. Scoring well in every frame, Joyce gave McBain nothing to go at and became the first man through into the third round early on. He now meets Belgian Open champion Ricky Walden tomorrow.