English Open Day 5
It only seems like yesterday that the English Open began but we have already reached the last stages of the tournament.. With most of the top seeds going home yesterday, Crawley seemed a lonely place but with the players that were left, the action would soon get rid of those post match blues. First up, David Gilbert came up against Ricky Walden and on paper this could be seen to be quite an even draw with both players deadly when in the balls and never shy to take on that long pit when required. This first quarter-final match was nip and tuck and Gilbert edged forwards with a slender 2-0 lead. Walden then made it 2-2, taking the two frames with a double on with the red landing in the middle bag. He then went on to make a 125 clearance from it. Gilbert had taken the first two frames with breaks of 85 and 63 whilst Walden made a break of 91 before getting the 125. However Walden surged back and before long he had a lead of 4-3, needing just one more frame to win the match. Gilbert wasn’t going to go down without a fight though and brought the match back to a decider. At 4-4, the split between the two players finally frayed in the last frame with Gilbert seizing frame and match with a break of 75, winning 5-4.
Next up was Mark Selby against Ronnie O’Sullivan’s slayer, Mei Xiwen. Xiwen made a good start, taking the first frame with a century break. Selby must have thought he was going to have the same fate as Ronnie when Mei raced to a 3-1 lead but Selby wrote the manual on how to come back in a match when trailing. His drip, drip approach of a slow buildup is agonising for any opponent and this time Xiwen was on the receiving end of Selby’s bite. From 3-1 down, Mark clawed it back to 2-3 and then took the next to win three frames on the spin. He then won the next with a thumping 132 break to become in touching distance of winning the match. Selby killed off the match like he often does and won the match in style, winning five consecutive frames in a row. Few players could ever achieve this feat and this is what makes Mark Selby so special as a player. Final score, 5-3, Selby.
In the evening’s session, the unlikely winner, Lee Walker came up against Mark Allen. Perhaps this was a bridge too far for Lee as Mark just went into overdrive and stamped his authority on the match from the start leaving Walker a spectator rather than a player. Allen racked up a 4-0 lead with breaks of 54, 51 and 80 leaving the 2018 Masters champion only needing one more frame. This was all before the mid-session interval. Mark then took the needed frame and left a beleaguered Walker with a 5-1 headache.
Similarly, the big win score line seemed to be infectious as Tom Ford started as he he left off last night. His opponent, Tian Pengfei must have wondering what he had done wrong to deserve this punishment and this is how cruel the cutthroat end of snooker can be. You may make the simplest of mistakes in a frame and your opponent seizes in the moment and produces snooker from the gods. A whitewash is never a nice way to exit a competition and especially when you have got so far. Not content on just winning the match, Ford rubber salt into Pengfei’s match wounds by finishing with a break of 128.
So we now know who will battle it out in the semi-finals with Mark Allen taking on Mark Selby and Tom Ford playing David Gilbert. Both matches provide a mouthwatering day of snooker. With Ford being an unlikely but deserving part of this snooker equation, this sport’s pendulum could swing either way with the pairing being a Allen or Selby versus someone final but as has been proved over this last week, the path to the English Open final is rocky and very often unpredictable. Either Gilbert or Ford could put a spanner in the works for one of the other two players and Tom Ford could be that bogey man with having a superb run to this stage with some of his best career form. I would be a rich man if I could predict the final Spartan winner but whoever wins, will be the best player on the day but maybe not the best of the week.
Next up was Mark Selby against Ronnie O’Sullivan’s slayer, Mei Xiwen. Xiwen made a good start, taking the first frame with a century break. Selby must have thought he was going to have the same fate as Ronnie when Mei raced to a 3-1 lead but Selby wrote the manual on how to come back in a match when trailing. His drip, drip approach of a slow buildup is agonising for any opponent and this time Xiwen was on the receiving end of Selby’s bite. From 3-1 down, Mark clawed it back to 2-3 and then took the next to win three frames on the spin. He then won the next with a thumping 132 break to become in touching distance of winning the match. Selby killed off the match like he often does and won the match in style, winning five consecutive frames in a row. Few players could ever achieve this feat and this is what makes Mark Selby so special as a player. Final score, 5-3, Selby.
In the evening’s session, the unlikely winner, Lee Walker came up against Mark Allen. Perhaps this was a bridge too far for Lee as Mark just went into overdrive and stamped his authority on the match from the start leaving Walker a spectator rather than a player. Allen racked up a 4-0 lead with breaks of 54, 51 and 80 leaving the 2018 Masters champion only needing one more frame. This was all before the mid-session interval. Mark then took the needed frame and left a beleaguered Walker with a 5-1 headache.
Similarly, the big win score line seemed to be infectious as Tom Ford started as he he left off last night. His opponent, Tian Pengfei must have wondering what he had done wrong to deserve this punishment and this is how cruel the cutthroat end of snooker can be. You may make the simplest of mistakes in a frame and your opponent seizes in the moment and produces snooker from the gods. A whitewash is never a nice way to exit a competition and especially when you have got so far. Not content on just winning the match, Ford rubber salt into Pengfei’s match wounds by finishing with a break of 128.
So we now know who will battle it out in the semi-finals with Mark Allen taking on Mark Selby and Tom Ford playing David Gilbert. Both matches provide a mouthwatering day of snooker. With Ford being an unlikely but deserving part of this snooker equation, this sport’s pendulum could swing either way with the pairing being a Allen or Selby versus someone final but as has been proved over this last week, the path to the English Open final is rocky and very often unpredictable. Either Gilbert or Ford could put a spanner in the works for one of the other two players and Tom Ford could be that bogey man with having a superb run to this stage with some of his best career form. I would be a rich man if I could predict the final Spartan winner but whoever wins, will be the best player on the day but maybe not the best of the week.
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