China Open Qualifiers 2011: Day Three Results

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Day three from Sheffield already it has seen a fast start from yesterday’s star performer Kurt Maflin who has followed up his win against Jack Lisowski with 5-1 victory against Dave Harold. Things are also looking good for Mark Joyce (pictured) and Anthony Hamilton at the time of writing too…

Day Three Results:

Matthew Selt 4-5 Alfie Burden
Tom Ford 5-3 Liu Song
Anthony Hamilton 5-0 Joe Jogia
Dave Harold 1 – 5 Kurt Maflin
Mark Joyce 5-1 Joe Delaney
Rory McLeod 5-2 Barry Pinches
Robert Milkins 5-4 David Gilbert
Peter Lines 3-5 Jimmy White
Nigel Bond 5-4 Bjorn Haneveer
Mike Dunn 5-2 James McBain
Tony Drago 2-5 Issara Kachaiwong
Michael Holt 3-5 Rod Lawler
Steve Davis 4-5 James Wattana
Jamie Burnett 3-5 Ben Woollaston
Fergal O’Brien 5-3 Matthew Couch
Alan McManus 3-5 Joe Swail

Click here to view the drawsheet.

Morning Session

The first match to conclude this morning saw Kurt Maflin complete his third victory of the week, this time a comprehensive 5-1 victory against Dave Harold. While his scoring was not quite as heavy as against Lisowski yesterday, he quickly took a 2-0 lead with breaks of 65 and 38×2 before Dave got himself on the scoresheet with 60 of his own.

That was to be as good as it got for Dave however as Kurt then fired in breaks of 83, 82 and 52 to seal a quickfire victory and set up a last 48 clash with Mark King tomorrow. Can Maflin make it all the way to Beijing?

Soon to join him was Anthony Hamilton, a player in good form at the moment and with far too much in his locker for Joe Jogia this morning, completing a 5-0 win with the 210th century break of his professional career. He will next play Matthew Stevens in what looks to be one of the most attractive matches of tomorrow’s first round with both players playing well.

Burden and Drago, both in action today

Third man through was Mark Joyce defeated Joe Delaney 5-1, his first second (sorry Mark!) win since his breakthrough run to the UK Championship quarter-finals back in December. In a match of few breaks, Mark won every frame before the interval with a top break of 52 before Joe stopped the rot in the fifth. His reprieve though was to prove short-lived and Mark duly wrapped up the win in the next with 49 and 20. Next up for him will be Stuart Bingham tomorrow.

Elsewhere the remaining matches of the session were far tighter as Alfie Burden recovered from 4-2 down against Matt Selt to book a tie with Stephen Lee tomorrow. In a match of high quality, particularly early on, it looked like Selt has seized the initiative to lead 4-2 having previously trailed 2-1. The protracted seventh frame however proved to be the turning point in this match as Burden forced Matt to concede nine penalty points before winning it with 15. From here there was only one player in the match as Alfie hit breaks of 50, 41, 35 and 32 took him to a big win.

It was a big win too for Tom Ford who has struggled of late but today took the last two frames of his match against Liu Song to come through 5-3. The longest match of the session however was that between Rory McLeod and Barry Pinches, eventually won by Rory following the start of the afternoon session!

Afternoon Session

First man through this afternoon is Issara Kachaiwong who has maintained his excellent run this week with a 5-2 victory against Tony Drago. Early on it looked like being a very different outcome as Tony moved 2-0 ahead with an excellent break of 137. From there however the match turned on tis head, Issara winning a series of scrappy frames and eventually the match to book a final qualifying round tie with Ken Doherty tomorrow. In all likelihood ending Tony’s chances of ending the season inside the top 32, this is his first opening round defeat since he bounced back onto the tour in the summer of 2009.

It was better news however for Jimmy White as the Whirlwind won four frames in a row after the interval to turn around a 3-1 deficit and book his place in the next round. Peter very much made the early running with runs of 63, 62, 50 and 44 seeing him take a mid-session lead but when the match resumed his scoring appears to have deserted him, White instead weighing in with 61 and 59 of his own as he set up a last 48 tie with Dominic Dale tomorrow.

Soon to follow were Robert Milkins and Mike Dunn, though in Robert’s case not without a real fight as David Gilbert pushed him all the way to a ninth and deciding frame.

The final match to conclude was that between Nigel Bond and Bjorn Haneveer which eventually went the way of the Shootout winner following a deciding frame. It was a tight match throughout as the pair were never separated by more than a frame and it with a top break of 66 it was Nigel who managed to come out on top and set up a match with the struggling Liang Wenbo tomorrow.

Evening Session

No I haven’t died at my computer, at 22:40 local time we have the first result of the evening session as James Wattana edges out six-time world champion Steve Davis in a deciding frame to book his last 48 place. It was not a match of big breaks but try as Steve might he could never quite get ahead of his opponent, Wattana eventually coming through following an early 41 in the decider.

An excellent win for James, this sees him through to a tie with Mark Davis tomorrow and perhaps more importantly keeps his hopes of a top 48 place at the end of the season alive heading into the World Championship qualifiers. For Steve on the other hand it is yet another deciding frame defeat for him and one that probably leaves him needing to win his opening match next week to stay in the top 48.

Soon to follow James into the next round was Rod Lawler who resisted a brave fightback from Michael Holt to secure another valuable win. While perhaps not being renowned for his scoring, Rod recovered from the loss of the opening frame with runs of 59, 55, 46, 45 and 36 on his way to a 3-1 interval lead before moving one away following a scrappy fifth. Michael to his credit dug in to pull it back to 4-3, but Rod took the next to see himself through to a match with Joe Perry.

While Fergal O’Brien came through against Matt Couch in the last match to finish, all in all it was a night for the qualifiers as Rod Lawler and Ben Woollaston also came through with 5-3 wins late in the night against Michael Holt and Jamie Burnett respectively.