Day seven at the Betfair World Championships and today we had a former world champion coming through an old fashioned Crucible thriller,a young debutant further enhancing his growing reputation and two of the pre tournament favourites starting to show some form.
In the battle of the World Champions it was who cam out on top but only after a proper late night thriller.The day had started with Murphy leading 6-2 but the one thing we know Dott is is a fighter and he came storming back to take second session 6-2 and level the match at 8-8 coming into tonights final session.
What we effectively had now was best of nine and that became a best of five as they shared the next four frames to go 10-10.In a match as close as this you always get key moments and we certainly had one of those in the next when after 55 minutes of battling away we went to a respot only for Dott to play an awful shot gifting the frame to Murphy.That seemed to be playing on Dott's mind a little as Murphy also took the next to go to the brink at12-10 but Dott to his credit showed all his fighting qualities to close to 12-11,The next was a tight nervy affair as you would expect at this stage but it was Murphy,who went 25 minutes without potting a ball during it,who made the most of his best chance to claim the win 13-11
He will now be starting to fancy his chances of claiming a second World title and a possible quarter final clash with Judd Trump will have us all getting very excited.Dott will no doubt look back on that respotted blck as the turning point but he can reflect on another high class Crucible campaign.
A few monthes back coming into the staging of the Welsh Open I remember reading several articles bemoaning the state of Welsh snooker but after this week it appears they may just have a savior in the shape of 21 year old Michael White.
White to be fair has been talked about as a potential start since he was a teenager but here he has shown the snooker world in general,just what a talent he really is.
Coming in today with 7-1 lead from his first session with Dechawat Poomjaneg he would have been determined to make sure he finished the job with a session to spare and he quickly won the first two frames to go 9-1.Poomjaneng did win the next and had his chances to win the twelfth but it was White who took it to go to the interval leading 10-2.An 83 made it 11-2 and although Poomjaeng made it 11-3 White sealed the win impressively with runs of 73 and a 102.
All this means he can now have a rest in the morning as he awaits the winner between Robert Milkins and Ricky Walden in the quarter final.For Poomjaeng it means the end of the road but he will leave the tournament with happy memories of his first time at the Crucible and indeed no one who saw him play will forget him either.
World no.3 Judd Trump has had a mixed time of it of late but at times in his first match against Dale he showed signs that he was rediscovering his best form and that was again the case today as he finished his first session against Marco Fu with a 6-2 lead.
There hadn't been much to separate these two in the opening four frames as they went to the interval at 2-2. but it was then that Trump found an extra gear and breaks of 127,61 and 112 made it 5-2 before he cleared in the last to that 6-2 overnight lead.
In last years World Championship world no.1 Mark Selby,suffering from a painful neck injury,went out in the first round to Barry Hawkins.and he provided the opposition again today as they started their second round.
Selby seems to have a habit of winning frames without seemingly been at his best and that was again the case here as he took a 5-3 lead from the first session.Into the second session and it was Hawkins who got the better of a couple of lengthy frames to level at 5-5 That became 6-6 at the interval but it was Selby who found a bit of form when play resumed as he raced into a 9-6 lead.Hawkins to his credit though managed to take a vital final frame and will only trail 9-7 when they resume tomorrow,with all very much still to play for.
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