Chris Norbury, John J Astley, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh register wins: 2011 World Snooker Q School, Event 3
Chris Norbury, John J Astley and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh won their matches in the first session of the 2011 World Snooker Q School Event 3 on day one.
This season’s Q School events are being staged at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
Lee Stephens 2-4 Chris Norbury
The opening match of the morning session was a cagey affair, as no reasonable breaks were made. It was an all-English battle between Lee Stephens and Chris Norbury. However, it was Norbury who came far superior to his opponent in the safety department.
Norbury took an early 0-2 lead before Stephens clawed his way back and levelled things at 2-2 by winning the following third and fourth frames. He again had good chances in the fifth and sixth but somehow, he failed to capitalise on them and thus lost his
battle for the main tour card.
Stephen Ellis 2-4 John J Astley
It was another scrappy match between both Englishman Stephen Ellis and John J Astley. However, it was an impressive performance from Astley, as he was trailing Ellis 2-1 before he bounced back into the game to pocket the following three frames straight.
He also fired a modest break of 54 in the fifth frame.
Sean O’Sullivan 3-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
The best performance of the session came in the last match that was between the Englishman, Sean O’Sullivan and Thailand’s professional, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. However, it was an accomplishing performance from Un-Nooh, as he showed nerves of steel to keep his
hopes alive for the professional circuit.
O’Sullivan stormed into a 2-0 lead with a top break of 87 before his opponent managed in winning the third frame to come within one frame at 2-1. O’Sullivan however again knocked in a carving break of 52 in the fourth to restore his one frame lead at 3-1.
He now needed only one more frame to reach the finish line before he was stunned by his opponent, who clawed his way back and won all of the following three frames to pull off a shocking win.
O’Sullivan had a few frame-winning chances but somehow he could not capitalise on them and thus lost his hopes for the main tour card. Meanwhile Un-Nooh showed great temperament to rack up modest breaks of 45 and 57 in the last two frames respectively.
Kurt Maflin, Mitchell Travis and Michael Leslie in the meanwhile were the lucky ones who enjoyed walkovers.
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