Day 4 at the International Championship
It only seems the other day that the players were walking down the red carpet for this tournament’s inaugural ceremony but today left us with just 16 players left in the competition. This was a crucial day for Judd Trump as in the afternoon session he had the opportunity to climb to the number 1 spot, overtaking Ronnie O’Sullivan if he could just get past Joe Perry. On the day, it was like Trump’s play button had just been paused because the match was a replica of the last with Trump picking up the same excellent pace of form as before. Perry was disappointing as I know he can play a lot better than he did. However Trump is certainly on form and it will someone with a similar game to beat him. At this stage, I could only see Mark Allen being capable of it. So Judd inflicted a 6-2 defeat on Perry and with it guaranteed prize money of £21,500 for reaching the quarter finals.
Elsewhere Mark Selby had a hard slog with Dave Gilbert. Gilbert is a dangerous player and never rolls over easily. Rather like a thorn in your side, he keeps chipping away at frames and so adopts a similar style as Selby. This was definitely a tough draw and in the end it bore out in the final score line and in the end it went down to the wire with a final frame decider. Selby being Selby turned on his chess face and drew out the match, capturing the last frame. In the end it was a win for Mark but what this game proved is that this player is still not quite at the top of his game and will have to find that few percentage points in the next round if he has any chance of reaching the final and ultimately capturing it.
In the evening session Neil Robertson matched Shaun Murphy and this was match that you couldn’t separate with a cigarette paper. Before long the match was evenly before the interval at 2-2. After the break, Robertson upped his game and it wasn’t long before it was 3-2. Neil’s obvious tactic in this match was to keep Murphy tight on the top cushion so every time he played a reply shot, he let his opponent in. This style of play had success but Murphy is too good a player to be kept off the table for long and so the Magician proved by displaying his magic, making it 3-3 but Robertson fought back and took the advantage to lead 4-3. Before long it was nip and tuck, back to 4-4. Robertson took the next after a mistake by Murphy cost him the frame and one frame away from the quarter-finals. An 83 break by Murphy in the next meant the match had to go the distance as it was evenly poised at 5-5. A match that could go either way. A classic break gave Shaun Murphy frame and match, 6-5 and Robertson becomes another casualty of this tournament. Elsewhere wins were had by Graeme Dott over John Higgins, 6-2 and the same score by Mark Allen over Ali Carter.
Elsewhere Mark Selby had a hard slog with Dave Gilbert. Gilbert is a dangerous player and never rolls over easily. Rather like a thorn in your side, he keeps chipping away at frames and so adopts a similar style as Selby. This was definitely a tough draw and in the end it bore out in the final score line and in the end it went down to the wire with a final frame decider. Selby being Selby turned on his chess face and drew out the match, capturing the last frame. In the end it was a win for Mark but what this game proved is that this player is still not quite at the top of his game and will have to find that few percentage points in the next round if he has any chance of reaching the final and ultimately capturing it.
In the evening session Neil Robertson matched Shaun Murphy and this was match that you couldn’t separate with a cigarette paper. Before long the match was evenly before the interval at 2-2. After the break, Robertson upped his game and it wasn’t long before it was 3-2. Neil’s obvious tactic in this match was to keep Murphy tight on the top cushion so every time he played a reply shot, he let his opponent in. This style of play had success but Murphy is too good a player to be kept off the table for long and so the Magician proved by displaying his magic, making it 3-3 but Robertson fought back and took the advantage to lead 4-3. Before long it was nip and tuck, back to 4-4. Robertson took the next after a mistake by Murphy cost him the frame and one frame away from the quarter-finals. An 83 break by Murphy in the next meant the match had to go the distance as it was evenly poised at 5-5. A match that could go either way. A classic break gave Shaun Murphy frame and match, 6-5 and Robertson becomes another casualty of this tournament. Elsewhere wins were had by Graeme Dott over John Higgins, 6-2 and the same score by Mark Allen over Ali Carter.
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