Photo by @Stuart__Bingham
Today has seen the resumption of the ET2 event in Gdynia, Poland and among those through to the last 16 are world number one Mark Selby and UKPTC1 winner Stephen Maguire. Click below for more…
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- Click here to view the latest results from Gdynia at snookerorg
Following his early exit at the recent Shanghai Masters, Mark Selby’s lead at the top of the rankings has been eaten into by the likes of John Higgins and Judd Trump. Today however, the man from Leicester maintained his 100% record in European Tour events this season with a 4-0 win against Fergal O’Brien to gain a further 200 important ranking points and move into the next round where he will await either John Higgins or Ding Junhui.
Joining Selby in the last 16 is Stephen Maguire, the Scot having shrugged off an opening frame break of 72 from his young opponent Michael Wasley to come through a 4-1 winner. Next up for him will be Joe Perry, who continued his strong start to the 2012/13 season with a 4-1 victory against Mark Davis, highlighted by a break of 90 in the third frame.
Elsewhere, Jimmy White was the winner of the veterans as he also emerged a 4-1 winner against Stoke Potter Dave Harold, while his next opponent will be Liang Wenbo, the Chinese number two having whitewashed Andy Hicks with a top run of 86.
With O’Brien exiting the tournament earlier in the day, fellow Irishman Ken Doherty joined him on the plane home as the 1997 world champion suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Rory McLeod. Awaiting McLeod in the next round will be Jamie Burnett, the experienced Scot hitting a break of 132 during the fifth frame of his 4-2 win against Mark Joyce.
Tian Pengfei has had a mixed run since returning to the main tour at the start of last season, but today he recorded a strong 4-2 victory against Anthony McGill to move into the next round where he will play Stuart Bingham. This could have been an all-Chinese clash with Cao Yupeng, however it has emerged that a footballing injury has put paid to Cao’s chances, handing Stuart a bye through to the last 16.
Turning to the Welsh contingent, with the likes of Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens not in contention this weekend, the spotlight has fallen upon the new generation as Jamie Jones and Michael White have entered the fray. For White the day proved to be disappointing as he lost out 4-2 to Michael Holt, while at the time of writing Jamie Jones currently leads 2010 world champion Neil Robertson 3-1.