Matt Selt has always enjoyed playing in the Australian Goldfields Open with two previous quarter-final runs to his name and today he claimed another significant scalp, winning a thrilling match 5-4 against home hero Neil Robertson to reach the last 16 in 2015.
Continue reading for more on that and the five other first round matches completed on day two in Bendigo…
His opening match with Matt Selt always had the look of a tricky match, but few would have expected the qualifier to win all four frames before the mid-session interval with breaks of 83 and 63.
As can happen in matches though, that interval was to change the match as Robertson closed the gap to just one frame with a top break of 55, before he recovered from 58-5 down to win the eighth frame on the black to force a decider.
The first good chance was earned by Selt, an excellent red to left-middle ultimately rewarded by a break of 41, but as during the previous frame Robertson was able to bring himself back into contention, gaining the upper hand during a high quality safety exchange on the yellow.
When he was presented with a chance to claim victory however, crucially he was to misjudge brown to blue, leaving the cue ball touching the latter and it was Selt who eventually managed to pot the balls that he needed to secure a big victory.
Next up for him will be another qualifier in Mark Joyce, after the world number 47 hit four 50+ breaks to dispatch Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen, who was playing his first match of the season in Bendigo.
Otherwise it was to be a relatively straight-forward day for the seeds, Mark Selby recovering from the loss of the opening frame to defeat Mark King with a top break of 141, while Robert Milkins ended the run of Australian qualifier Adrian Ridley with a 5-1 win.
Players Championship winner Joe Perry won the last two frames of his match with Jamie Burnett to progress a 5-3 winner, but Michael Holt produced a better performance still to whitewash Gerard Greene, restricting him to just 29 points ahead of the mid-session interval.
Tomorrow sees the conclusion of the opening round, as well as the first two last 16 matches from Bendigo.