Selby Stumbles But Others Don’t Fall
Mark Selby lost to Barry Hawkins at the 12bet.com World Open in Glasgow but despite Stephen Hendry’s prediction that the tournament would act as a ‘leveller’ and give lower ranked players more of a chance, Selby was the only big name casualty to fall on day two.
It was Hendry himself who got proceedings under way at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre against Bjorn Haneveer.
The Belgian having beaten the Scot at an EPTC event in Germany last month was looking to upset the seven time world champion in front of his home crowd.
There was to be no repeat though as Hendry opened with a break of 98. Haneveer did have a chance to level at 1-1 but missed a sitter of a brown with position on the yellow assured. Hendry eventually took the frame.
In the third, Haneveer found himself in trouble early on, failing to escape a tough snooker and having the ball replaced seven times.
When he eventually did get out of it, he left Hendry a chance which he took making a frame winning break of 76 and secure his place in the next round where he will face world six-red champion, Mark Davis for a place in the last 16.
The next match was introduced as ‘Samba Snooker’, as Igor Figueiredo became the first Brazilian to play at the final stages of a ranking event, taking on two-time world champion, Mark Williams.
Although Figueiredo looked comfortable in such strange surroundings and displayed some obvious skill that is likely to ensure this is not the last we will see of him, Williams was in no mood for messing.
He pounced on the IBSF world championship finalist’s opening break with a break of 80.
In the next the current China Open controlled the tactical play and eventually secured a 2-0 lead o the colours.
His place in the next round was secured shortly after as he made a ‘classy’ break of 96 to seal victory.
There, he will face newly crowned Shanghai Master, Allister Carter in-the-tie-of-the-round.
China’s Ding Junhui was in even more ruthless as he restricted Adrian Gunnell to a mere 12 points in their three frames.
The evening session saw a Whirlwind breeze into Glasgow as Jimmy White took on Paul Davison.
Despite the shortened best-of-five-frames format being billed as ‘fast and furious’, this one was anything but. The average frame time was almost half an hour and it was a case of who didn’t make the most mistakes.
In the end it was White who scrambled across the line, wiping his brow following the handshake in a almost apologetic gesture to the crowd.
White will need to improve if he is to have any chance of further progression with a possible tie against Ronnie O’Sullivan on Thursday.
The Selby Hawkins game had the hallmarks of the tightest of the day’s five matches.
It was the Masters champion who made the early moves with some trademark long pots from under the baulk cushion, but when a fairly straight forward frame ball pink to the centre ‘turned off’, Hawkins pounced to clear and force a re-spotted black. Selby kept calm under pressure and potted a simple black to ahead.
Hawkins looking refreshed after a family break in Spain, responded well with a superbly constructed 127, 14-red clearance, a forerunner in the race for the highest break prize.
A second century looked on the cards but Hawkins had to settle for a 92 and an important 2-1 lead.
Selby is becoming a true champion in the sense that he can produce his best when it is needed most.
Frame four was no exception and the Leicester man made a century (109) of his own to force the decider.
Frame five began with a re-rack after three shots each. When they resumed, the balls went scrappy and produced a typical decider with plenty of tension and tactical safety play.
Selby had the early advantage but couldn’t shake off Hawkins and it was the Kent man who eventually potted blue to black to earn a place in the last 32.
