Glimpses of Past Glories
Tony Knowles rolled back the years to win three matches to join the Main Tour Professionals on the Road to the Crucible.
It's barely a mile from the EIS in Sheffield to the Crucible Theatre but for the non-tour professionals setting out in the preliminary rounds, it's a very long mile.
To reach the Crucible Theatre Tony Knowles, a former World Semi Finalist, needs to win seven matches.
Knowles has so far won three preliminary matches, including a nail-biting 10-9 win over Holland's Stefan Mazrocis and now faces Ireland's Rodney Goggins in the last 96, needing four more wins to relive his glory days.
Bolton's former pin-up star set out with a routine 5-1 win over London's Ali Bassiri, better known as a WPBSA coach.
A best run of 49 helped him to a 5-2 win over Phil Seaton, another WPBSA coach, from St. Albans.
That win saw him through to the Main Tour draw, where the four lowest ranked players had to take on the banana skin of playing one of the non-tour professionals.
Stefan Mazrocis, nowadays representing Holland, but formerly from Leicester of Latvian extraction, lined up against Tony Knowles in the best of 19 match.
Mazrocis held a slender at the half way stage. On the resumption Knowles gained a 6-5 lead with his best break of the match, 84.
Knowles opened up a 9-6 lead before Mazrocis responded to level with runs of 116 and 70, but it was Knowles who dominated the deciding frame to progress.
Also through to the first round is Neil Selman, who beat Paul Cavney and Barry Stark before getting a walkover due to the non arrival of Declan Hughes.
New Zealand's Chris McBreen was under threat of becoming another Main Tour victim, before he eventually edged out Del Smith 10-8 in a close match.
