World Championship, day five: Selby & Dott crash out, Day & Trump go further in dramatic day at the Crucible

Reaching its fifth day of action, the World Championship seems to be restless in bringing more and more surprises to the snooker fans with world number one Mark Selby losing 10-3 in front of qualifier Barry Hawkins, while Scotland’s Graeme Dott got hammered 10-1 by Joe Perry.

Ding Junhui and Ryan Day engaged in a thrilling battle of cues ending with the Welshman prevailing by 10-9; at the same time a not-yet-recovered from food poisoning Judd Trump just managed to send home Dominic Dale by 10-7.

World number one Mark Selby’s Crucible dream crashed once again. His neck problems, as well as Barry Hawkins’ great form, cost him his first-round match.

A month ago Selby pulled out of the China Open’s Last 16 round because of severe neck pains, a problem that he’s also suffering from at the moment, thus only managing to win a total amount of three frames the entire match.

Hawkins’ runs of 73, 58, 64, 47 and 63 brought him a 6-3 lead after the first session, while another series of 41, 56, 39 and 46 were sealing a clear 10-3 victory over Selby and a place booked in the next round where he’s meeting with Matthew Stevens.

Also experiencing an early and surprising exit, Graeme Dott got hammered 10-1 by Joe Perry, the Scotsman being unable to get any sort of rhythm during the match.

The snooker’s “Gentleman” Perry got a comfortable 8-1 lead after the first session, although his biggest break was a 51, the second one lasting a little over 20 minutes, thus giving the Englishman plenty of time to win the last two needed frames with runs of 59 and 56 and setting a Last 16 snooker encounter with another Scotsman, Stephen Maguire.

China’s Ding Junhui and Wales’ Ryan Day kept the audience on their toes as they crossed their cues all the way until the last frame in a match where tension and drama went hand-in-hand.

Following the classical pattern of a high standard quality match, the players shared frames during the first session, with Day being the one ending with a small advantage of 5-4, but as the second one kicked off things became tense.

A break of 70 was sending the Welshman two points further when Ding’s fury was unleashed under the form of breaks of 52, 56, 69, 46 and 57. The Chinese player was landing just one step away from victory, at 9-6.

What followed next was a very hard task for Day, who had to keep his head still and not let the pressure get to him. Things that he accomplished fully helped by runs of 57, 79 and 33, made the decider-dream become a reality.

Ding got the first chance, but as he was reaching a 48 break he missed an easy red and Day came to clear the table with a great 64 to win the match by 10-9.

Last year’s World Championship runner-up Judd Trump and Welshman Dominic Dale shared their personal drama in a match that saw the boy from Bristol prevailing by 10-7.

Suffering from food poisoning, Judd Trump had a rough start getting 3-1 behind, but as the first session was coming to an end the situation chanced in his favour at 5-4.

As the last session started and the match developed more, Dale’s sore hand became an issue and although the Welshman managed to put his nose in front at 7-6, Trump’s breaks of 40, 57, 40 and 42 were sending him straight into the next round where he’s meeting with the winner of Ali Carter v. Mark Davis match.

 Ramona Dragomir