Dave Harold beats Jamie Jones in final frame thriller: World Snooker Championship, qualifying round
Dave Harold has beaten Jamie Jones by a frame score of 10-9 in the qualifying round 3 of the World Snooker Championship held at English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England.
The Welshman, Jamie Jones, who previously beat Simon Bedford by a frame score of 10-6, was looking for his first debut win in the World Snooker Championship. However, his hopes have been ended by the stroke potter, Dave Harold, in the third round.
It was a fully stretched battle between the players with an overall score line of 58-63, 98-0, 76-0, 62-45, 26-65, 21-81, 32-75, 85-50, 66-48, 65-32, 62-68, 73-53, 56-63, 80-16, 50-52, 78-13, 28-69, 0-72 and 71-0.
The young Welshman, Jones, took the opening frame with a dominant break of 56 before the 44-year-old, Dave, fired up classy breaks of 98 and 76 in the next two. He also took the scrappy third using his vast experience to lead by 3-1 before the interval.
After the interval, Jones clawed back and reeled off the first three frames straight with carving breaks of 33, 50, and 75. He also got frame winning chances in the next two but this time lost his nerves and was punished by Harold, who made decisive breaks
of 44 and 28 to lead by 5-4 before the end of first session.
Both players traded frames before the mid-session interval with no reasonable breaks.
Upon returning from the break, it was Harold who made the first contribution of the evening session. He made a magnificent break of 80 in the 14th. Jones took the 15th without doing anything outstanding before another carving break
of 77 came up from Harold in the 16th which left Jones two frames down with three to play.
The match was almost through as Harold needed only one frame to seal his victory and was the first to be among the balls in the 17th. However, he lost control of his emotions after rolling in 27 and when the chance presented itself, Jones slotted
a wonderful break of 50 to come within one frame by 9-8.
The 18th frame was over within a blink of an eye as the 23-year-old Welshman gave no chance to Harold and produced a mind boggling break of 71 to force the decider at 9-9.
It looked as if Jones might even win as he shifted the pressure towards his opponent but it was a completely different story.
Harold used all of his skills and experience to force the mistake from his opponent and with it a chance to claim the match. He responded with an outclass break of 71 to finish the matters off.
Dave Harold is now one match away from reaching the home of snooker and will now face Gerard Greene in the final qualifying round.
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