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  British
Open
Masters 2011
Day TWO, Thu 9th |
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Schedule & Quick Results
Updated
Draws
The essence of the Masters |
Featherstone sets the mark,
Jones not so easy ...
 Day
Two got under way at noon with a round of three-nil
victories, none more comprehensive than O60 3/4 seed
Barry Featherstone, who lost the spin but then won 28
points in a row to progress to the quarter-finals in just 11
minutes.
On the face of it Keith Jones, top seed in the O60,
had a similar canter through to the quarters, but analysis
of his 9/1, 9/1, 9/0 win showed that under PAR scoring he
would have won 11/5, 11/8, 11/5 - quite a difference!
 The
other top seed in action, O50 Mark Woodliffe, won
comfortably enough, but he and his opponent impressed the
watching O40 top seed Graeme Stewart who was amazed at the
standard for an O50 last sixteen match.
There was to be no repeat of yesterday's comeback from Neil
Harrison as he went down in straight games to James
Ockwell, also in the O50.
Also in this session, the first upset as Mick Broomhall
beat O60 5/8 seed Philip Godfrey in straight games.
That was swiftly followed by another as Alan Griffiths
put out O50 5/8 seed Chris Harland in three tough games,
10/8, 9/4, 9/2.
 "I
haven't played in these events for five years," explained
Griffiths, "but I just turned 50 so thought I'd give it a go
this time.
"I don't think Chris was at his best today, but I'm happy
with the win.
"We played a few years ago and he beat me quite comfortably
["it was a tough 3/1 actually!" interjected Harland]."
The session finished with a Welsh win, O50 5/8 seed Jon
Evans coming through a tough, sometimes contentious,
four games against Jeremy Goulding. |
Top seeds
looking good
 Many
of the top seeds were in action in the second session
(actually there's no gap, it's just convenient to break it
up a little!)
Peter Alexander looked in good form as the O55 top
seed cruised into the quarters - with arch-rival Mark
Cowley paying close interest - while the aforementioned
O40 draw-topper Graeme Stewart had to work much
harder for his straight-games win.
 Cowley
himself - world champion but seeded two here - found himself
up against an opponent in William Todd who employed a
similar hard-hitting, no-nonsense style, and for two games
it was a real tussle, but Cowley edged both before taking
the third more comfortably.
The toughest match of the day so far saw Simon Street
(on the left, in black) squeeze past Bruce St Ledger 11/8 in
the fifth in the O40.
The seeds generally
continued to do well as evening drew on, but Northumbria's
Ken Johnson produced an upset as he beat O65 5/8 seed
Robert Smith, coming from 7/2 down in the first to win in
straight games.
 "I
haven't played competitive matches for a while, and the pace
surprised me at the start," said the Newbiggin man. "Once I
realised that was how it had to be I stepped it up, I got a
couple of drops in, and managed to get back into it."
Yawar Abbas, O45 top seed, looked as sprightly as he
did in the younger age categories as he beat Mark Hildred in
three, and Chris Ansell, second seed in the O65,
looked just as lively as he bounded around the court, even
having the time to "play it into the corner for the camera
..."
Rounding off the evening's entertainment - apart from the
live music in the bar of course - were another pair of
five-setters.
 Nick
Staunton saw a match ball go begging in the fourth
against David Gouldby, but the O35 5/8 seed quickly went 9/0
up in the decider before finishing it off.
That finished just before Andrew Eilfield completed a
comeback from 2/1 down against Portugal's very speedy Carlos
Mendes. It was tough all the way though, and Eilfield will
feel that hour-plus slog in his O45 quarter-final tomorrow
(we've got the ending on video, looking to upload it
shortly). |
Updated Draws, Full
Results and Schedule |
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Nottingham City Centre |
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