Updated Projected Seedings
Day Two from the Academy and while it was largely a day for the top seeds with 11 of the 16 winning, there were nevertheless a few upsets. Click below for all of the day’s results…
Welsh Open Qualifiers 2011 – Day Two Results:
Jack Lisowski 4-1 Liam Highfield
Dave Harold 4-3 Kuldesh Johal
Jimmy White 4-0 James McBain
Bjorn Haneveer 1-4 David Morris
Andy Hicks 4-1 Igor Figueiredo
Anthony McGill 3-4 Liu Chuang
Rod Lawler 4-2 Jak Jones
Joe Jogia 4-3 Michael Judge
Jamie Jones 4-2 Michael White
Alfie Burden 4-1 Kurt Maflin
Matthew Selt 4-3 Jamie O’Neill
Ian McCulloch 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Stuart Pettman 0-4 Paul Davison
Patrick Wallace 3-4 Xiao Guodong
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Simon Bedford
Adrian Gunnell 0-4 Noppon Saengkham
Click here to see how that affects the draw.
The latest match to finish tonight saw Chinese talent Xiao Guodong survive a stirring fightback from Northen Ireland’s Patrick Wallace tonight to win 4-3 having at one stage led 3-0.
It started well for Xiao as he forced eight fouls from his opponent in frame one before wrapping it up with a couple of small breaks, before he doubled his advantage with a classy 124 in the second and added a scrappy third to leave himself needing just one more frame.
Patrick is an experienced player however and soon found his scoring boots, runs of 69 and 39 enough to take frame four before he matched the tournament high break set by James McBain yesterday in the next with a knock of 137. Taking a scrappy sixth to level, it looked as though the momentum was all with the man from Northern Ireland now but there was to be another twist in the tale as Xiao hit back to get over the line and keep his hopes of a 64 place for the World Championship alive, ending those of Patrick in the process. Next up for the Chinese player will be Michael Holt tomorrow.
Other lower ranked players to win were Noppon Saengkham and Paul Davison, 4-0 winners against Adrian Gunnell and Stuart Pettman respectively. The Thai player in particular was impressive as without any real form on the professional circuit to date, he hit breaks of 68, 62 and 57 to book a tie with Shootout winner Nigel Bond. Davison meanwhile also made three 50+ breaks to leave Stuart’s hopes of remaining in the top 64 at the end of the season in peril, his China Open semi-final points from a couple of seasons ago still to be removed and already down to 62nd place in my list.
On the subject of experienced players in danger of slipping out of the top 64, Ian McCulloch tonight came from 2-0 down against Leicester’s Ben Woollaston to get some much needed points on the board. A break of 125 was the highlight from the man from Preston and he will now meet Alan McManus in the next round.
Other close matches today saw Matt Selt, Joe Jogia and Dave Harold all edge out lower ranked opposition in deciding frames to keep their hopes of qualification for Newport alive, while Liu Chuang edged Anthony McGill in a battle of two of the strongest young players on the circuit this morning. He will next meet Welshman Dominic Dale who will be keen to win in order to secure a top 32 seeding ahead of the World Championship.
Elsewhere, the ever-popular Jimmy White saw off James McBain in a low-scoring match while Jack Lisowski won the battle of the young guns with Liam Highfield, a break of 124 in frame two proving the high point.