The Shanghai Masters got under way without any major upsets happening in the first session of the wildcard matches. Of the 4 wildcards in action early on, only one of them was to gain a victory, former main tour player Tian Pengfei.
Afternoon Session
Results
Andrew Higginson 1-5 Tian Pengfei
98 (36,37)-5, 0-80 (74), 0-128 (38, 90), 18-101 (101), 0-90 (56), 22-75 (48)
Marcus Campbell 5-1 Tang Jun
60 (36)-14, 51 (46)-71, 69 (45)-20, 72-28, 70-39, 88 (66)-1
Ken Doherty 5-0 Aditya Mehta
83 (33)-19, 101 (63)-31, 129 (129)-0, 103 (32,39)-17, 66-45
Graeme Dott 5-2 Mohammed Shehab
90 (60)-1, 22-56 (45), 102 (101)-0, 71 (64)-21, 31-66, 89 (55)-19, 46-66(45), 92 (56, 36)-0
Well done to Tian Pengfei who was perhaps the only surprise winner this morning. In what looked to be a very impressive performance against Andrew Higginson that included a century break and three other breaks over 50, Tian booked himself a place in the main draw and will now face Ali Carter. Who knows what could happen in that match if Tian continues this impressive start and the Captain continues to play below his high standard in the Far East.
Sadly for the home fans and those looking for an upset or two, this was as good as it got so far. Former World Champion Ken Doherty continued his recent good form with a convincing 5-0 defeat of India’s Aditya Mehta. Ken looked to have only been pushed close in the final frame of the match and also made a century break so appears to be cueing well. Ken will now face Neil Robertson and will look to cause his own upset and continue to gain some much needed ranking points.
In the other match containing a former World Champion, Graeme Dott was made to work hard for his 5-3 victory over Mohammed Shehab from the UAE. Whilst Dott led 3-1 at the interval thanks to two breaks of 60 and above along with a century break, Shehab refused to give in. He pulled back to 3-2 and then kept the match alive by winning a close 7th frame only for Dott to get over the line with a comfortable final frame.
The TV match was Marcus Campbell versus Tang Jun. Tang is the player who defeated Judd Trump in the wildcard round of the 2009 China Open and must have fancied his chances against Campbell. In what was truth be told a scrappy match, Marcus was the one who always seemed to have the upper hand. I’m sure he will be keen to improve on his performance here, but he can take a positive from his closing break of 66 to seal the win.
I am not sure why this ended up being the TV match as from looking at the other matches that were played, they seemed to be a far higher quality than this one with players more likely to attract a bigger viewing audience. It is hard to believe from Tang’s showing this morning that this is the player that beat Judd Trump in Beijing. All in all, it was a pretty scrappy match but both players are capable of a higher standard and perhaps a wildcard round match isn’t the best place to judge someone’s form. Despite neither player looking particularly comfortable in the balls there were some cracking single ball pots from both players throughout.
Evening Session
Matches
Loading tweets...
3 comments
Glamour says:
September 7, 2009 at 12:36 pm (UTC 0 )
Eurosport International televised Pengfei vs Higginson and it was a very high quality performance for Tian, who had also two 40+ breaks. But he let a minor 147 opportunity slip away when he lost his position on 56.
Still, the tournament, since its start in 2007, is not attractive. China Open is much better in terms of crowd athmosphere.
matt2745 says:
September 7, 2009 at 10:29 pm (UTC 0 )
I’ve heard that from a few people in China, why do you think that is?
Glamour says:
September 8, 2009 at 9:56 am (UTC 0 )
I think it is because Shanghai Masters is played just at the start of the season, where nearly all favourite names fall at the early stages, if not at the first hurdle, and too many upsets are seen. Upsets are great for snooker but when they are rare, if they start to come back to back, it gets a little bit boring.
Here is an example: Stephen Hendry is on the brink of elimination as I type this, losing the whole mid-session and going down 4-0. Fu is clearly struggling and Day also does not look that sharp. Defending champion won 5-1, but played terribly.
The point I’m trying to show that the audience are willing to see big names and big clashes. And it’s offen unlikely to happen in Shanghai. Last year, there was an O’Sullivan vs Williams quarter-final, though. That was the sole match that got me excited. When the crowd is silent, the players also become also less interested in entertaining the people, more interested in crossing the line and snatching the win. And it goes on like this. Again, Bahrain Championship was a copy of Shanghai Masters, but it lost its place on the tour, hopefully, we will not have to watch it again. Anyway, Shanghai needs some big names to perform well if it’s to survive.