It is last eight day in Glasgow and already Mark Williams is through to the semi-finals following victory over Ding Junhui. Click below to read who will join him or for more regular updates, follow me on Twitter…
Trailing 2-0 in a best of five match is never a good position to be in but today Mark Williams became the first man this week to come back from that position and win against Chinese number one Ding Junhui.
Although he did not make any particularly big breaks, Mark will be thrilled (for him anyway, he is outwardly probably the most laid back player in the game), to come through and book a semi-final place as he bids for his second major ranking event title of 2010. In his post-match interview following a victory earlier in the week he alluded to some personal problems that have affected his game during recent years but he now looks to be very much through the worst of those and that is showing in his performances. He will take some beating this week…
In the second match of the day, Peter Ebdon is currently doing his best to grind down Martin Gould and as he took the first frame with an average shot time of 41 seconds, it looked like he might have been successful already. To Martin’s credit however, the long balls have continued to go in and at the time of writing he has now levelled the match following an impressive clearance to the pink. This one is going to run and run I think, something that on today’s evidence would certainly suit the 2002 world champion…
And Ebdon is through a 3-1 winner. Martin certainly had his chances, particularly in frame four when he looked set to level before a combination of poor positional play, a horrible kick and ultimately a miscue proved to be costly. That said however, it was a superb clearance from Ebdon under pressure, probably his best break of the week so far. His long game continues to be erratic but with his fighting qualities he has always got a chance.
The first match of the evening session meanwhile saw Stephen Maguire up against Ronnie O’Sullivan in what was a hard match to call. For a short while it appeared as though it would be Stephen’s day as he led by a frame and 51 points but a poor positional shot where he played what for me was an unnecessary cannon onto another red ultimately was to be his downfall as he then missed into the left-centre and gave O’Sullivan a chance to clear.
O’Sullivan, who up until that point had himself not potted a ball, did not need a second invitation and from there notched up breaks of 116, 81, 62 and 62 to storm into a semi-final clash with Ebdon.
Finally, Neil Robertson came through well against Ricky Walden to win 3-1 to set up a mouthwatering tie with Williams. Having won the Grand Prix here last year as well as in 2006, Neil seems to have a real affinity with playing in Scotland and if the evidence so far is anything to go by, the added pressure of being the reigning world champion does not appear to be causing him any problems.