Today has seen the first day of the first EPTC event to be streamed over the internet get underway and already it has been a day full of upsets as Ali Carter, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui have all crashed out of the tournament already while Ronnie O’Sullivan was predictably a no show…
To view the results so far from today, please click here to view the (admittedly awkward), drawsheet over at World Snooker.
As you will notice, despite this week’s announcement that he would take part in this weekend’s event, Ronnie O’Sullivan unfortunately was not present for his opening round match against Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham. Already committed to the new Power Snooker event and having played in last night’s Premier League tournament this does not come as a huge surprise but it is a shame as he would potentially have squared off against rival Mark Selby in the second round this afternoon. Speaking of Selby, he is now through to the third round following wins against Saenghkham and Kyren Wilson and now awaits the winner of the match between Matt Selt and Steve Davis who are currently locked at 3-3 in their match. Davis did enjoy an impressive 4-0 victory over Alfie Burden earlier on but is clearly finding the going somewhat tougher against Matt.
What of Ali Carter? He enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 victory over the struggling Reanne Evans in his first round match but then fell at the second hurdle to Welsh youngster Jamie Jones who continues to excel in the PTC events having qualified for the final day of several recent tournaments.
It was not a good evening day either for world champion Neil Robertson who having dispatched Ireland’s David Morris in the first round then exited at the hands of China’s Liu Song in the second.
Still, they both at least progressed a round further than Ding Junhui who having lost 5-1 yesterday evening to Marco Fu in the Premier League, lost a deciding frame today against former professional Andrew Norman, who then caused another shock in the next round with a 4-3 victory over Mark Allen. Next up for him is Leeds amateur David Grace who has already won well himself against Barry Pinches and Liang Wenbo.
With regard to the rankings I shall update these at the close of play tonight before embarking on a 200 mile trip to Gloucester in the morning to hopefully bring you some news from the venue.