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KEN Doherty rolled back the years in Glasgow as Mark Selby became the biggest name to crash out of the Grand Prix.
It was the pick of the first round encounters and it lived up to it's billing as the Leicester man locked horns against Dublin's Doherty, who had been showing a welcome return to form after making the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters.
Settling confidently into his rhythm Selby claimed the opening frame with breaks of 43 and 63. But Doherty was in no mood to let Selby have it all his way and jumped into a 31 point lead in the second frame- only to come of worse in a safety duel when he failed to escape from a snooker- hitting the pink to leave Selby in prime position in the centre of the table. Selby countered with 44 but missed a long red. With the frame in the balance at 65-67 in Doherty's favour it seemed as if a piece of luck would be required to settle its destiny, And it was Selby who was thought he was over the line when he fluked the final red into the centre pocket and cleared only to miss the frame ball pink. Doherty needed just the one snooker. He got it quickly as he manged to hide the cue ball behind the black to ellicit the penalty points required- before sinking a long pink and following it with the black to snatch the frame from Selby's grasp.
Taking heart from his second frame escape Doherty then took full advantage of Selby's discomfort as he built a 35-13 lead in the third frame- before a loose safety from Mark gave Ken the framewinning chance he needed. With the most delicate of cuts to the centre Ken put together a break of 49 to lead 2-1. From his confident start Selby now looked anything but that as Doherty relishing the task fired in a clearance of 105, making the 264th century of his playing career. The Irishman leading 3-1 at the interval- and Selby clearly couldn't get that second frame out of his head.
Resuming after the interval Selby knew he had to knuckle down if he was to stay in the match. Ken had the first chance but missed a red to the centre. Selby pieced together runs of 24 and 35 but missed a frame winning black of its spot before finally clinching it to reduce his arrears to 2-3.
Doherty was intent on keeping everything tight, and making Selby work for every point. Doherty was in first in frame four and looked in prime position until he underhit a simple black and left it hanging over the corner pocket. As the stalemate set in with the reds clustered around the black neither player gave an inch and referee Leo Scullion finally stepped in and both players accepted the offer of a re-rack.
Selby built a 48 point lead in the re-racked frame- but needed four chances to do it- and spurning them was to cost him dear. He bungled a safety and left Ken with straight red to the centre pocket. The balls weren't ideally situated but Ken pieced together a 33 break before a kick intervened. With just the final red and the colours remaining Ken snookered Mark on the black- only for Mark fluke the red with his two cushion escape- and the formality of mopping up the colours.
It seemed simple - but then poor positional shots from Selby struck again as he was faced with a delicate cut on the green. He potted it but could only then watch in agony as the cue ball rolled in the top corner pocket.
Selby looked away in disgust and Ken hardly believing his good fortune rolled a green to black clearance to steal the frame 62- 56 to take a 4-2 lead. Mark was there for the taking and Ken knew it.
Despite not being anywhere near his best Selby took the seventh- with the help of a 44 break. In all honesty he was lucky to get that chance and it only came courtesy of an surreal shot from Doherty's cue when in powering in the blue he managed to knock in the yellow and the cue ball in the same shot. Although Selby had reduced his arrears to 3-4 he was struggling badly and Ken upped the pressure in frame eight with the help of a 21 point lead and some punishing safety that cost Selby 20 penalty points.
Selby was pinned on the ropes with a 60 point deficit to look at. Chance after chance at sealing the match went begging with Ken suffering from clinchers disease. Luckily for him Selby was still blighted by the problem of deciding when to go for discretion as opposed to valour as he made a hash of mid length red. Grabbing his chance Ken stepped in, potted red and pink with Mark offering his hand seconds later. A big win for Ken 5-3- and his ranking will rise from 44 to 37th at least.
Meanwhile there was no shortage of drama in the match between Marcus Campbell and Joe Perry. Perry was out of the traps first and quickly built a 3-0 lead before Marcus answered his wake up call. He hammered in a century of 104 to close to 1-3 at the intermission- but then to the dismay of the partisan crowd contrived to throw away the fifth frame when he missed a frame ball red. To his undoubted horror Perry stepped in and cleared to the pink with 43.
Trailing 1-4 Campbell, the 37 year old from Dumbarton needed some inspiration. Well he got that and a helping hand from Perry too. Campbell built a 58 point lead only to let Perry in. Perry did everything right up and until the final black, potting with care and precision, until he was faced with the match ball black. To be fair it was far from easy- cutting back the shot makes it harder, and Perry probably realising the importance of the shot overcut the black and handed Campbell a lifeline. The Scotsman grabbed his chance in hammering in a length of the table black to close to 2-4.
Campbell clearly fancied the task and built a 60point lead in frame seven before spurning numerous frame ball opportunities. It cost him dear as Perry drilled in a long red and cleared with 61 to pinch the frame and the match and put himself into the second round draw.
Suzy Jardine
It was the pick of the first round encounters and it lived up to it's billing as the Leicester man locked horns against Dublin's Doherty, who had been showing a welcome return to form after making the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters.
Settling confidently into his rhythm Selby claimed the opening frame with breaks of 43 and 63. But Doherty was in no mood to let Selby have it all his way and jumped into a 31 point lead in the second frame- only to come of worse in a safety duel when he failed to escape from a snooker- hitting the pink to leave Selby in prime position in the centre of the table. Selby countered with 44 but missed a long red. With the frame in the balance at 65-67 in Doherty's favour it seemed as if a piece of luck would be required to settle its destiny, And it was Selby who was thought he was over the line when he fluked the final red into the centre pocket and cleared only to miss the frame ball pink. Doherty needed just the one snooker. He got it quickly as he manged to hide the cue ball behind the black to ellicit the penalty points required- before sinking a long pink and following it with the black to snatch the frame from Selby's grasp.
Taking heart from his second frame escape Doherty then took full advantage of Selby's discomfort as he built a 35-13 lead in the third frame- before a loose safety from Mark gave Ken the framewinning chance he needed. With the most delicate of cuts to the centre Ken put together a break of 49 to lead 2-1. From his confident start Selby now looked anything but that as Doherty relishing the task fired in a clearance of 105, making the 264th century of his playing career. The Irishman leading 3-1 at the interval- and Selby clearly couldn't get that second frame out of his head.
Resuming after the interval Selby knew he had to knuckle down if he was to stay in the match. Ken had the first chance but missed a red to the centre. Selby pieced together runs of 24 and 35 but missed a frame winning black of its spot before finally clinching it to reduce his arrears to 2-3.
Doherty was intent on keeping everything tight, and making Selby work for every point. Doherty was in first in frame four and looked in prime position until he underhit a simple black and left it hanging over the corner pocket. As the stalemate set in with the reds clustered around the black neither player gave an inch and referee Leo Scullion finally stepped in and both players accepted the offer of a re-rack.
Selby built a 48 point lead in the re-racked frame- but needed four chances to do it- and spurning them was to cost him dear. He bungled a safety and left Ken with straight red to the centre pocket. The balls weren't ideally situated but Ken pieced together a 33 break before a kick intervened. With just the final red and the colours remaining Ken snookered Mark on the black- only for Mark fluke the red with his two cushion escape- and the formality of mopping up the colours.
It seemed simple - but then poor positional shots from Selby struck again as he was faced with a delicate cut on the green. He potted it but could only then watch in agony as the cue ball rolled in the top corner pocket.
Selby looked away in disgust and Ken hardly believing his good fortune rolled a green to black clearance to steal the frame 62- 56 to take a 4-2 lead. Mark was there for the taking and Ken knew it.
Despite not being anywhere near his best Selby took the seventh- with the help of a 44 break. In all honesty he was lucky to get that chance and it only came courtesy of an surreal shot from Doherty's cue when in powering in the blue he managed to knock in the yellow and the cue ball in the same shot. Although Selby had reduced his arrears to 3-4 he was struggling badly and Ken upped the pressure in frame eight with the help of a 21 point lead and some punishing safety that cost Selby 20 penalty points.
Selby was pinned on the ropes with a 60 point deficit to look at. Chance after chance at sealing the match went begging with Ken suffering from clinchers disease. Luckily for him Selby was still blighted by the problem of deciding when to go for discretion as opposed to valour as he made a hash of mid length red. Grabbing his chance Ken stepped in, potted red and pink with Mark offering his hand seconds later. A big win for Ken 5-3- and his ranking will rise from 44 to 37th at least.
Meanwhile there was no shortage of drama in the match between Marcus Campbell and Joe Perry. Perry was out of the traps first and quickly built a 3-0 lead before Marcus answered his wake up call. He hammered in a century of 104 to close to 1-3 at the intermission- but then to the dismay of the partisan crowd contrived to throw away the fifth frame when he missed a frame ball red. To his undoubted horror Perry stepped in and cleared to the pink with 43.
Trailing 1-4 Campbell, the 37 year old from Dumbarton needed some inspiration. Well he got that and a helping hand from Perry too. Campbell built a 58 point lead only to let Perry in. Perry did everything right up and until the final black, potting with care and precision, until he was faced with the match ball black. To be fair it was far from easy- cutting back the shot makes it harder, and Perry probably realising the importance of the shot overcut the black and handed Campbell a lifeline. The Scotsman grabbed his chance in hammering in a length of the table black to close to 2-4.
Campbell clearly fancied the task and built a 60point lead in frame seven before spurning numerous frame ball opportunities. It cost him dear as Perry drilled in a long red and cleared with 61 to pinch the frame and the match and put himself into the second round draw.
Suzy Jardine
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