In a match where neither player showed the form they displayed in the first round, Marco Fu emerged victorious 13-10. In a scrappy affair, the highlight was when Fu accidentally poked his opponent in the arm with his cue and later McGill climbed on the table to show how difficult it was to reach his shot using conventional methods. Although Fu showed improvement in the final session, he’s going to have to pick his game up for the next match when he faces either Barry Hawkins or Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Sam Baird started his first ever best of twenty five match against Mark Selby and showed the same kind of form as in the first round, holding the world number one to a drawn session at 4-4.
Good mates Mark Williams and Michael Holt began their second round match with a hug rather than a handshake. However on the table, Holt was ruthless in taking a 4-1 lead. But when he failed to extend it to 5-1, he let Williams back in and when they finished their evening session, Williams held a commanding 10-6 lead. Williams attracted criticism from the purists when he took at damp cloth to the cushions between frames, rubbing against the nap of the table. Like many other players, he was unhappy with the inconsistent bounces and believed that rubbing a damp cloth would aid the issue. But Williams’ frustration was nothing compared to Alan McManus in the afternoon session when he suffered some severe bounces and kicks, leaving the Scot livid as he fell to a 9-7 overnight deficit to Ali Carter.
On a day that will be remembered more for what happened off the table than on it, more criticism of the refereeing came from the commentary box when Tony Camilleri asked Ali Carter to nominate a colour when he was snookered behind a red. Steve Davis correctly pointed out that the referee shouldn’t ask; if the player fails to nominate then it is a foul shot. But in the grand scheme of things, this kind of action has very little bearing on the game and I feel the commentators and pundits are too quick to criticise the officials. They do a fantastic job and are rarely complimented on the correct decisions that they make. While the players, the audience and the commentators have comfortable seats to sit down in, the referees are standing throughout and have to maintain a high level of concentration. So when they make a small error according to rule 162.5 section b of the snooker rule book, I think they should cut a bit of slack.
Seventeen Days on the Baize 