The PTC Grand Finals got underway in Galway, Ireland on
Wednesday morning as players who had got themselves in the top 24 of the PTC
order of merit began their pursuit of the £70,000 prize.
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| Xiao Guodong who defeated Damonic Dale despite playing with a broken hand (not my picture) |
The first game of the day in the last 24 round saw Barry
Hawkins face Jack Lisowski, who at one point thought he would have to play a
tie-break match with Michael White they had exactly the same points in the order
of merit. However it later transpired that due to another rule, his place was
already secured. Lisowski went 2-0 up however Hawkins won the next two to draw
level. Lisowski made it 3-2 but his Kent opponent forced a decider which Jack
won after knocking in a break of 99. He will play a recent out-of-form Neil Robertson
tomorrow evening.
China’s Xiao Guodong appeared at the venue only minutes before
the match was scheduled to start as he had miss-read the session’s start time
for 1pm rather than 10am. To make things worse, he was forced to wear strapping
on his hand which he revealed after the game was a result of a broken hand.
Xiao though played through the pain racing to a 3-1 lead over his opponent,
Dominic Dale before securing the match with an 89 break in the fifth frame.
Mark Davis put in a solid performance during the afternoon
with a good four frames to one victory over Tom Ford. The man from Sussex will
play Stephen Maguire on Tuesday. The final match of the session saw Trowbridge’s
Stephen Lee against fellow top 16 player Martin Gould. Lee, the runner-up of
the recent World Open, knocked in breaks of 65, 70, 58 and 78 in a 4-1 victory
to set up a tie with Michael Holt in the last 16.
The first game of the evening session looked close on paper
as world number 17 Ricky Walden took on Matthew Stevens, ranked 15th.
However Walden set off in determined fashion after knocking in breaks of 130 and
133 in the first two frames and went onto claim the next two to whitewash the
Welshman. The only Irishman in the field, Fergal O’Brien was well supported by
his home crowd but his opponent, Joe Perry, was in no mood to please the
spectators as he secured a 4-0 victory to secure a match against Graeme Dott in
the next round.
Tomorrow sees the conclusion of the last 24 matches with Ben
Woolaston v Ding Junhui at 12pm followed up by John Higgins v Jamie Jones. The
other afternoon game sees Holt take on Lee. In the evening its Robertson v Lisowski
and Dott v Perry. TV coverage begins on Eurosport tomorrow afternoon from 12pm
onwards.
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