By elliott west
Coventry now seems a distant memory as players assemble in Belfast for the annual meeting of the Northern Ireland Open. As the nights get colder, who could not think of a better way to spend your time watching the best battle it out for this esteemed title. Won last year by Judd Trump, a kickstart to his run of victories including the World Championship, Judd now plays tomorrow but must be battered and bruised from his defeat at the hands of Neil Robertson in the Champion of Champions. Nevertheless he still remains a favourite in this feast of snooker. Mark Selby will also be trying to pick up another title in this Open series after capturing the first, the English Open. Barry Hearn’s promise to pay a million pounds to the person who takes all four events seems plausible. But in this climate of snooker where any top player could win it seems far fetched, a fact that Selby readily admits.
The first big shock of yesterday’s play was another early bath for Ding Junhui who came up against a player who many wouldn’t have heard of. David Lilley ranked 120 in the world looked like an outsider prior to this match. However, when it came to it he played well and brought some of his Q School expertise to the match table. With breaks of 92, 86, 84 and 71, Lilley trapped a beleaguered Ding like a fly in an unpredictable match when played in a best of seven frames’ format. Ding’s 2-4 loss shows once again that the Chinese player has to tinker with his game and positive attitude before a win happens once more.
Elsewhere there were good wins for Mark Selby who came up against another Q School graduate, Chinese player, Xu Si. Si played well in patches but couldn’t break the Selby hold to the match, capturing only two frames compared to Mark’s four. This was a good way for Selby to ease into this competition and looks like a strong candidate to go deep in Belfast. Players fear his grinding tactics and should now be very wary of his exceptional form.
Good wins also came for Ken Doherty who beat the former Shootout champion, Michael Georgiou, 4-2, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who dispatched Mark King, 4-2. Higgins, Hawkins and Murphy are also safely through.
The match to savour today is a battle of the older players with Peter Ebdon taking on Jimmy White. An antithesis of speed in play, White will want to build in his great play against Ronnie in the Champion of Champions that nearly landed him a famous victory. Ebdon will try to slug it out but this could be another feather in Jimmy’s cap if he plays his best game today.
