26/02/2014 Snooker: Welsh Open

Good evening. The defending champion takes centre stage at the Welsh Open

this evening. Stephen Maguire from Glasgow is the top seed here and

tonight he faces the local boy. The a match is coming up. Let's catch up

on the progress of Ronnie O'Sullivan who played his third round match

this afternoon. His owe popeblet was Xiao

Has he got away with it? I don't think so.

He has got a couple of attempts. But no tricky shots. He does feel he can

get through to this one. He is beginning to look quite

dangerous now, Xiao Guodong. He has found his feet. He is quite settled.

He could be fancying the job here. It has to be said, he is starting to

look very strong. He didn't have a chance in the first frame at all. He

got a chance in the second frame. He knocked in a good 59. He took these

very well so far. He has got right back into this frame.

He has certainly grown in confidence, Xiao Guodong. Almost

visibly. That was a little bit of a tentative

one. He just quit on that one a little bit. He could have hit that

one a lot of harder. He could have little bit. He could have hit that

pushed the cue through a little bit smoother and that's what you get.

All of a sudden, Ronnie is back in business.

It wasn't so much, you would still have expected him to have potted

that red, but it was the positional shot was the poor shot. Well, Ronnie

played an attacking shot there. It hasn't worked out too bad to be

fair. He has developed the one red and he is on this black. That could

have gone anywhere. Yeah, Ronnie's thinking was he

hardly hits it. There are six colours all over the place. He is

bound to be on something. I don't think he expected to be on the

black. He is just a point now. It is getting to the crucial part of this

third frame. And what a shot. If he can get on

this red, behind it, down this cushion, he will swap hands and play

with his left-hand. That cue ball is travelling, he needs it do slow down

otherwise he will have to use the rest. Well, he is going to have to

play safe. He played a great safety shot. He is in total control now in

this third frame. Seven points ahead. And he has got the snooker.

Yeah, but I wouldn't want to be Ronnie. I fancy Xiao to snooker him

back. He could leave that cue ball exactly where the red is. He would

be disappointed if he doesn't play it well. Well, he will be

disappointed if he doesn't play it well. He will be disappointed with

himself. And it is a free ball. I can assure you, he will feel that's

a dreadful mistake. He almost swerves the cue ball. There is too

much spin on the ball and he took it into the plaque. -- black.

I wonder what bearing that mistake could have on the are remainder of

this match? Still not quite over the winning

line in this frame. Now that red has gone in. This black.

It has been a good match this. It has been very entertaining. Both

players are in good form. Ronnie is just having a quick look at the

scoreboard to make sure. Ronnie O'Sullivan looks effortless.

He is a terrific striker of the ball.

It looked at one stage, Xiao Guodong was going to take this frame. He was

nicely in amongst the balls. He played a bad positional shot and

ended up missing the red and the cushion, but Ronnie played a

terrific safety shot. It doesn't matter about the black. He will be

really happy. Xiao Guodong with something to really think about.

Ronnie O'Sullivan leaves the arena. He now leads 2-1.

O'Sullivan also won frame four. Xiao Guodong got off to a good start in

the fifth. He is on a break of 52. I was about to say that he will be

very disappointed if he doesn't go on to win this frame now. What on

earth happened there? Maybe the thoughts of the winning line in this

frame? Well, could he possibly have played

his last shot in this match now? Ronnie is normally deadly from

positions like this. The only half safe ball is the brown

and he is quite close to that corner pocket. I don't think that's going

to cause him much trouble. What a miss that was. Looked really good as

well. He was cueing great. How he missed, it is just unbelievable.

He has got rid of all the reds and colours now Ronnie. It is all about

getting a nice angle now on the green. It is the only possible

saviour for Xiao Guodong. I don't think it will save him.

He has got a lot more distance between cue ball and object ball and

he is going to have to play a deep screw. What a terrific shot.

A great performance from Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has clinched victory

over his Chinese compatriot, Xiao Guodong. I practised with him a lot.

He beat me a few years ago. I hardly got a shot really. You know what the

man's capable of. In the back of your mind, you are ware, but that

makes you play a bit better sometimes. It is good. So Ronnie is

safely through today. There were three Welsh players trying to book

their place in the last 16. Our own Dominic Dale bowed out today. Mark

Selby proved too good. It was a 4-0 victory.

APPLAUSE I started off OK. I had a 70 break

the first frame. I was fortunate in the second frame. I played a safety

shot and managed to capitalise and win the frame. After that I played

solid and didn't really miss much. Matthew Stevens fell at the third

round stage today. The 20th seed led for most of the match, but he lost a

final frame decider to Joe Perry. APPLAUSE

There was better news for Mark Williams. He prevailed 4-3 following

a Titanic struggle with Neil Robertson. Playing the best player

in the world. To beat him in Wales is an excellent win for me. I played

OK in the match as well. Well, I have been joined by Willie

Thorn. It just seemed like a really significant result? Well, the table

played poorly today. Robertson started OK. Williams was looking

good and in the middle of the match, it just went dead and it wasn't

until the fabulous clearance from Mark to win the match and that was

the only bright thing over the last four or five frames. We probably

won't remember much of the snooker that was played, but the result

seems to be hugely significant, not least for Williams, but for this

tournament? Well, I have always been a big fan of Mark Williams and the

fact that he is playing in Wales, we all want him to do well. There is

only him and Andrew Pagett left in the tournament so far. Williams has

a chance of a good run. He has Marco Fu in the next round. Marco Fu, when

he is playing well, he is so hard to beat. That will be a tough game. So

Mark Williams flying the flag for Wales, but what chance he could be

joined by in the last 16, by Andrew Pagett? He comes from Blackweed and

he is -- Blackwood and he is a former practise partner of Williams.

Every match I have been shaking like former practise partner of Williams.

I'm looking forward to it really. I have had a lot of support from

family and friends. They have all come down because I'm only 20

minutes away from the venue. It is nice to have all my crowd support.

I have no tactics really. I will just go out and play my game. If it

is good enough, if I get me head down and concentrate, I know I am he

a handful for anyone. I'm really looking forward to

getting out there tonight and seeing what happens. Andrew Pagett seeded

100th for this tournament tonight. He plays the number one seed and

defending champion, Stephen Maguire. Maguire took the first frame. Well,

let's head out into the arena now to pick up on the second frame and our

commentators are Terry Griffiths and Dominic Dale.

Andrew Pagett on the blue to break the pack. He tried to split the pack

in his previous shot. But he has spread them out a bit.

in his previous shot. But he has It is not easy to retain position in

those type of shots. Well, I don't think he was entirely

settled over that shot. He may have been in two minds as to what colour

to play for, I don't know. But he missed that by an awfully long way.

That's nicely played that safety. He got the cue ball exactly where he

wanted. And Stephen Maguire can't get to the

left-hand side of the red as we look at it in the right corner. He hasn't

got a straightforward safety on here.

This shot requires a very thin contact on the red.

Just about miss the red on the way down.

A bit unlucky Andrew Pagett there. There is a gap through to the red.

Looking at the position of the reds this is another great chance. Came

to the table 21 points in arrears, but that could soon diminish.

He played that nicely. You can get caught out in those shots because

the blue is below it. He is so rock solid on the shot and good, firm,

accurate cuist. He is such a straight cuist. The cue goes

backwards and forwards naturally. He doesn't lift the back of the cue in

the air as some players do. I think he seemed to strike the ball

very purely. He is trying to get past the 43

target. The two reds are difficult there. Red and blue will do it.

Andrew Pagett hasn't made the most of his chances so far in this match.

The balls are pretty much open. Just like Stephen Hendry used to be. He

has just over done that one. Andrew Pagett wouldn't have carried on, but

he can't see it to pot it. Stephen Maguire looks disgusted with that

shot. He has got him safe, but he is still disgusted. He is very

demanding of himself. The turned the red ball into the

pocket. He didn't care about the position really.

That's 73 from Stephen Maguire. It wins him another frame. He is 2-0 in

front. The defending champion is looking comfortable? His last match.

Steve was walking very gingerly around the table. After two or three

frames, it wasn't common knowledge he had a problem, whether he slipped

a disc or something, I don't know. I said to Terry, he is standing

different. He is getting gingerly down on the shot and he is getting

very high and the more and more we watched it, it was taking a long

time to get down and I thought Sam should have won that match. He did

very well to get through. He started very well there. Andrew Pagett

missed a red that he shouldn't have missed, but Maguire looks a lot

better. What difference does it make to a player when he is unable to

move freely? He maybe has a sore limb o are a bad back, what

difference does it make? The snooker player does a lot of stretching and

if your back is hurting, you can't get down on the shot. He probably

uses the rest more. I spoke to Stephen Maguire's father and he said

it happened a few weeks ago in practise, he was reaching for a shot

and ripped something in his back. I said why hasn't he been to a

chiropractor. He was worried about making it worse. He knows what he

can do, rather than risk going to a chiropractor, he thought he would

carry on and play. He is has not been practising. He is having half

an hour here and there. I wouldn't fancy him to win this tournament. If

his back gets better, we know what a great player he is. What does Andrew

Pagett have to do to get back into this? He is a very good player

otherwise he wouldn't be on the main tour. He practises a lot with Mark

Williams. I was watching his game on Twitter! Mark Williams was playing

Andrew Pagett the best of 31 or something and they kept tweeting

after every frame and I happened to be at home and I was watching it on

Twitter. It is one thing to do it in practise and quite another thing to

do it in front of the TV cameras at the Newport Arena. Can Andrew Pagett

get back into it? I don't know what you boys in the commentary box

think? Well, he can get back into it. He made the odd mistake at a

crucial time in the first two frames that allowed Stephen Maguire to go

on and make the breaks that he has. 73 in the last and a 35 and a 40 in

the last in the last frame. It didn't help Andrew's cause when

he declared a foul on himself and Stephen went on to win the frame

from it. This is the one. Look, you can just

see it move a couple of millimetres. He declared the foul on himself

immediately. Good sportsmanship. Every time Stephen Maguire comes to

the table he has a great chance. After that missed red from Andrew,

another golden opportunity. He didn't play his positional shot

there too well. There is not quite so much pressure

on Stephen Maguire now with the 2-0 lead. He is firmly in control of

this match. Stephen Maguire looks a lot more

comfortable on the shot. He is back closer to his normal stance and

striking the ball a lot better than he did in the first match.

One of the reasons he has been losing the cue ball. He is striking

the ball at a different trajectory and he is getting a fraction more

spin on the ball. If he is standing, he is OK. But when he is standing

low down on the cue ball, I think it is making a difference. He is doing

OK though. Yes, of course, if he is compensating for the back issues

that he has got the moment then he is obviously striking the ball

slightly differently to the way he is accustomed and that will make a

difference to his control of the balls.

A little series of canons worked out beautifully for Stephen Maguire.

Four balls here. Click. Click. Click. Landed perfectly. He already

goes to 32. I think there could be a lot more to come.

Maguire is looking for another big win here.

He was always going to canon that red towards the pocket.

Although the red is on to the right corner, controlling the cue ball

won't be too easy. If he can get on a colour, it is a great chance to

get back into the frame. Well, he played that pretty well,

Andrew Pagett. He managed to find all the necessary gaps with the cue

ball, but look where he landed. Does he take the black on? It is worth

taking the black on because I don't know if you will cannon anything to

keep the cue ball down the table. He maybe able to leave himself on the

red above the cue ball. The one that's near this left corner.

That's a superb shot from Andrew Pagett. It is easily the best shot

of the night for him so far. Well, look at those for a pair of

shoes! How on earth is he 2-0 down with a pair of shoes like that?

This is his best chance of how to win a frame at this stage, you know,

late on. A little bit of bad contact there. He is still on the pink.

It is never easy when you are 54 points behind and 2-0 down.

He has got a little bit of an angle there. He will have to power it

through. He has to screw back. So it makes the shot a little more

difficult. It has gone in. And he is perfect on

the black. Andrew. Andrew. Andrew. Just when he

was looking so good. Well, you can't make any excuses for him there, I am

afraid. We all miss dolly balls and that was just one from Andrew there.

Unfortunately for him, that could spell the end of this frame. Already

31 points behind. So just this black and one more red for Stephen Maguire

to go within a frame of victory. He has over-run this. Does the red

at the bottom of these two go into the corner? It is very close as to

whether you can pot this. He is just able to get that through.

So that was frame ball. Now 39 points ahead, but only 35 remaining.

It has been tough for Andrew Pagett this evening. Of course, he is not

as familiar under the television lights as his opponent is. The world

number two and currently ranked world number eight. 271 career

centuries. I don't think Andrew Pagett has made one yet as a

professional. He won't worry about the green. He

comfortably secures the frame. He leads Andrew Pagett by 3-0.

Let me you on the other results at the Welsh Open today.

Joel Walker is through. He beat James Wattana. Scott Donaldson is

through to the fourth round as well winning over Andrew Highingenson.

Ali Carter will play Mark Selby. Marco Fu will play what could be the

only Welshman left in the competition.

So let's head back then to this frame which could be the crucial one

now for Stephen Maguire. He only needs to get to four to head through

to the last 16. Can Andrew Pagett fight back into this match?

He has got a bit of a task and he will have to play a lot better than

he has so far. Sometimes when you get to a stage like this, 3-0 down

and missed a few chances, you just relax a bit and he may start to

play. He is a lot better player than he

has shown so far. Andrew Pagett beat Marcus Campbell

4-0 in the first round of the tournament. It was a good win.

It is a little bit of hit and miss stuff at the moment. He is not known

for his discipline, Andrew Pagett. And that was such a clean strike of

the ball, Stephen Maguire. He had that cue where he wanted it and he

put Andrew Pagett in a bit of trouble here.

Unless he can see the left-hand side of the edge which is just to the

right of the black spot. This can be a slightly risky shot to

play. But I think he is going to be all right. He will be in trouble

when he comes back to the table shortly.

Well, is there a three ball plant on? Andrew is having a closer look

at it. Well, I don't think that's missable. The problem is how does he

get on a colour from it? Well, hold on to your hats here! If

he had potted it, he still wasn't on a colour. Not one red on a cushion.

There is three in the front row though.

It looked bad that, but the plant was on, wasn't it? The speed that he

struck the cue ball at, he didn't get the hitting point correct on the

first red and he left a pro erbial cherry tree here for Stephen

Maguire. He is never going to be lucky on the black from that? Well,

I don't think there was a pot on for Stephen Maguire so Andrew Pagett may

have been fortunate there. They are just not going in for

Andrew at the moment. He keeps wobbling balls. Now, what's he left

here? Nothing easy, I don't think. A difficult safety. These two reds

on the left of the table, hitting across the ball there. The cue ball

can often go wrong. But there are no pots on here that he can guarantee

to be on a colour. Andrew has been known to throw his

cue at the ball sometimes and just have a bash at them. So far in this

match that hasn't happened. This could go wrong. He played it

well. Well, Stephen could attempt the red

into the right-hand side corner and stun the cue ball up for the green.

I don't think he would leave anything in terms of a pot for

Andrew Pagett should he miss it. He didn't actually pay for anything

there. If he potted a red it would have rolled up behind the green or

the brown probably. There hasn't been many safety shots in this

match. It is a very open game. I'm surprised he played that because

previously he came off the side cushion just as to nestle up to a

couple of reds. He turned down the opportunity of a difficult pot and

this was even harder. He is trying to screw back, but striking down to

the near cushion and couldn't g enough action on the cue ball.

This is the opportunity now that Stephen has been waiting for to

close out this match. Well, the snooker is drawing to a

close. Andrew Pagett is still in this tournament, but just clinging

on by his fingernails. The writing seems to be on the wall as Stephen

Maguire closes in. Join us for our highlights programme at 11. 20pm on

BBC Wales. We look forward to seeing you then. For now, bye-bye.