Stevens Wins Welsh Battle
Former Masters champion, Matthew Stevens won an all-Welsh encounter to reach the final stages of the World Open with an impressive 3-2 win over Darren Morgan in Sheffield.
The 33-year-old opened with a break of 104 and took a 2-0 lead with a run 84.
Morgan was not about to give in easily though and the World Masters champion hit back to level the scores with breaks of 46 and 68.
The decider was a tense affair, lasting almost 30 minutes with a break of 44 proving decisive.
Stevens’ win means that he has qualified for the final stages of both season opening ranking events, a key component of improving on his current ranking of 25.
Fellow Welshman, Ryan Day, continued his miserable start to the season as he crashed out to Mike Dunn, one of the game’s most dangerous ‘journeymen’ by three-frames-to-one.
Day started well with a break of 32 at his first scoring visit but Dunn quickly countered with breaks of 41 and 44 to lead 1-0.
Twenty minutes later his lead had doubled and although Day rallied in the third, Dunn sealed victory with runs of 38 and 42 in the next.
