UK Championship 2013: Day Five Blog

No blog yesterday as I took a day’s rest from the UK Championship in York, but back in action today for the final four matches of the last 128, as well as the start of the second round…

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Having struggled to get parked at the Q Park across from the Barbican Centre, after some laps around the car park, I spotted my opportunity as I saw Ireland’s David Morris heading back to his car following his second round match this morning.

Upon checking the scores, I learned that Morris had continued his good start to the season with an emphatic 6-1 win against 2006 champion Peter Ebdon in the opening session. A quarter-finalist earlier this campaign in the Wuxi Classic, this is another result which will see David climb further up the provisional money list, which will of course come into effect next season.

Elsewhere, there was a comfortable 6-0 victory for Ali Carter against Jimmy Robertson, Carter continuing to perform well, despite his concerns about the venue. Next up for him will be Graeme Dott, after the Scot came through a deciding frame finish with veteran Nigel Bond in the same session.

As well as being an excellent match in prospect in its own right, the match will take on added significance, given the current race for a place in the 2014 Masters, which both players are currently right in the thick of.

It was however the afternoon session which would see the start of the BBC coverage of the event, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy  taking centre stage.

Rather predictably, Ronnie O’Sullivan was to make comfortable progress into the last 64, comfortably defeating inexperienced opponent Rhys Clark, who was playing in these conditions for the first time. Following the match, Rhys commented that he actually felt relatively settled after five minutes, but that he had never played on a table like the one in the main arena today.

As for Ronnie, following his interview in the BBC studio with Hazel Irvine, he headed on into the media room and offered his comments on the flat draw system, reminiscing back to the old days of the tobacco sponsored events of the 1990’s, which he clearly still misses.

Full quotes will follow, but he seemed happy enough to win and like Trump earlier in the week, admitted that he had been trying to make a 147, with the prize of £59,000 awaiting anyone who can do it this week.