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FORMER world champion Peter Ebdon forced his way past a disappointing Marco Fu 6-2 here at the Wembley Arena.
Yet it all began so well for Marco, who took the opening frame without any sizeable contributions - and then built upon it with a break of 59 to largely account for the second. Ebdon, being forced to sit in his chair needed to start thinking about his shot selection with a little more clarity than he had been showing.
And didn't Peter do just that, albeit with a fair bit of help from Marco in frame 3 as Marco- goi ng well on a break of 42 missed a simple brown to the centre. Yet Peter was unable to capitalise in one visit as he could only score nine points before missing a simple yellow. But Peter was back in the frame as he now trailed 42-33. Fu's mind seemed to be on that missed brown and leaving Peter a tempting yellow to the corner pocket from mid range was just the gift Peter needed.
Snatching it gleefully, Peter rolled in the yellow and then cleared with 27 to close to 2-1. The fourth frame was a similar story. Fu's errors were becoming graphic- and his cue action was not as smooth as it should be. No more so than when he missed a red to the centre when on a run of 25. The table looked very inviting for Peter and he duly turned up the heat and froze out his opponant with a decisive break of 47 to level at 2-2 at the interval.
Marco must have been seething at the two frames hre had allowed to get away from him. And the interval only served to allow him to brood on it even more. Returning for the second mini session it was all about the Englishman as he pounced on Marco's missed red to stroke in a break of 66 to move into a 3-2 lead, when in reality he could have been 1-4 behind.
As Marco's resistance melted so did his self belief. By contrast Ebdon's confidence was growing by the minute. Powering in a long red to the top corner pocket Ebdon proceeded to make 53 to put himself two frames from victory.
There was no way back for Marco from that- but the opportunities he was gifting to Peter would have only rubbed salt into the wound- not least when missing a straight red along the top cushion to gift Peter an opening. With an initial 25 already on the scoreboard the Dubai based professional took full advantage with an effort of 41 to leave him needing one frame for a place in the quarter finals. The end wasn't far away for Marco as Peter thumped a long red into the top corner pocket and duly completed a 6-2 victory with a break of 93 and set up a quarter final with either defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson.
Suzy Jardine
Yet it all began so well for Marco, who took the opening frame without any sizeable contributions - and then built upon it with a break of 59 to largely account for the second. Ebdon, being forced to sit in his chair needed to start thinking about his shot selection with a little more clarity than he had been showing.
And didn't Peter do just that, albeit with a fair bit of help from Marco in frame 3 as Marco- goi ng well on a break of 42 missed a simple brown to the centre. Yet Peter was unable to capitalise in one visit as he could only score nine points before missing a simple yellow. But Peter was back in the frame as he now trailed 42-33. Fu's mind seemed to be on that missed brown and leaving Peter a tempting yellow to the corner pocket from mid range was just the gift Peter needed.
Snatching it gleefully, Peter rolled in the yellow and then cleared with 27 to close to 2-1. The fourth frame was a similar story. Fu's errors were becoming graphic- and his cue action was not as smooth as it should be. No more so than when he missed a red to the centre when on a run of 25. The table looked very inviting for Peter and he duly turned up the heat and froze out his opponant with a decisive break of 47 to level at 2-2 at the interval.
Marco must have been seething at the two frames hre had allowed to get away from him. And the interval only served to allow him to brood on it even more. Returning for the second mini session it was all about the Englishman as he pounced on Marco's missed red to stroke in a break of 66 to move into a 3-2 lead, when in reality he could have been 1-4 behind.
As Marco's resistance melted so did his self belief. By contrast Ebdon's confidence was growing by the minute. Powering in a long red to the top corner pocket Ebdon proceeded to make 53 to put himself two frames from victory.
There was no way back for Marco from that- but the opportunities he was gifting to Peter would have only rubbed salt into the wound- not least when missing a straight red along the top cushion to gift Peter an opening. With an initial 25 already on the scoreboard the Dubai based professional took full advantage with an effort of 41 to leave him needing one frame for a place in the quarter finals. The end wasn't far away for Marco as Peter thumped a long red into the top corner pocket and duly completed a 6-2 victory with a break of 93 and set up a quarter final with either defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson.
Suzy Jardine