The table this week arrived in my local leisure centre, Hutton Moor in Weston-Super-Mare. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some live note-taking while watching the action. There were fireworks going on over the road but unfortunately there weren't any fireworks in the first match between Marco Fu and Neil Robertson. Willie Thorne got it spot on when he predicted this match to be very cagey as Robertson needs at least two wins from his remaining three whereas Fu just needed a point from his last game yesterday to be assured of qualification to Finals Night.
Both players were looking nervous and missing some rather easy shots. Robertson took a 77 break before stalling, but as able to win the frame 82-44. Unusually for Robertson his overall long pot success was a miserable 10% which is normally the opposite. Fu took advantage of a missed long shot and levelled the match after winning the second frame 77-12. Robertson should have won the third frame when he took a 57-25 lead but missed a miscalculated black that allowed Fu to take the frame 58-57. Fu did it again in the third frame with help from snookers as Robertson threw away another lead to lose 83-82, meaning Fu had got the point to guarantee qualification. But Fu wasn't content with just a point and after another missed long shot he went on to win the fifth frame 74-39. Fortunately for Robertson he managed to round off a poor night for him with a nice 90 break to take the final frame 90-28. With Fu now qualified Robertson only has three points from four games and knows he must win his final two to have any chance of making it to Finals Night.
Willie Thorne also predicted the second match right as he said Selby and Murphy would come out all guns blazing. Murphy flew through the first frame with an unanswered break of 80. Selby turned the tables, excuse the pun, in the second frame as he got the only century break of dead on 100 to equalise. Murphy then re-took the lead, requiring two visits to win 114-3 to make it 2-1. Again Selby retaliated with a break of 60 to Murphy's 19 to set up a great final two frames. Selby then took the lead in the match with another unanswered break of 91 to assure himself of a point. But the final frame of the night was the longest of the night altogether. After a few defensive shots both players decided on a re-rack, the first of the Premier League this season. Murphy struck first with a long red but couldn't add to that one. This lead to Selby getting a break of 56 before Murphy then pulled it back to 56-25. Murphy played a great snooker that Selby failed to get of, this lead to mass confusion as the referee and players all found it difficult to replace the balls so Selby could have another attempt, as forced by Murphy. Selby managed to get out of it and went onto 64 before Murphy started playing a cat and mouse game. With Selby having used all his time-outs Murphy kept playing snookers to try to catch Selby out. It worked as it took Selby five attempts to get out of one snooker and others meant that Murphy had equalised the score at 64 apiece. With both players without any time-outs the next was pot crucial and Murphy managed to get it and went onto win the frame 96-64 to earn a deserved draw. The point apiece moves Selby up to five points with one game remaining and Murphy up to four with two games left.
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