Dave Harold beats Ricky Walden to reach the last 16 of the 2011 Welsh Open – Snooker news
Dave Harold has reached the last 16 of the 2011 Welsh Open beating Ricky Walden with a frame score of 4-3 in the last 32.
The score line was 34-98, 79-7, 118-0, 104-0, 25-66, 21-67, and 60-62.
Walden had a chance after when he gave a foul to his opponent but could only pot 34 points before giving a chance back to Harold but he was lucky to get back as Harold only potted 8 points. Walden after a few safety shots brought Harold back on the
table where he made a break of 80 points leading his opponent by 1-0 before Walden bounced back and took the next three frames in a row doing some real damage.
In the second frame, Walden made two breaks 37 and 32 after the players had exchanged a couple of shots. In the third frame, Harold was not able to score a single point as Walden dominated it with a break of 78 when he already was leading his opponent
by 40 points. Similarly, in the fourth frame he again made breaks of 56 and 47 availing the given chances from Harold, who again was not able to score any points in the frame.
Walden now was leading Harold by 3-1 from 1 down and was looking in complete control before Dave Harold clawed back and turned the tables on his opponent as he also won three frames straight wrapping it all up.
The last three frames Harold won were pretty slow as he used safety tactics to win them instead of going for big breaks. In the fifth frame, Harold had a lead of 48 points when Walden rolled in 21 and a foul from his opponent took him on 25. Then after
exchanging some safety shots, Harold was able to pocket it to trail Walden by 3-2.
In the fourth frame, the maximum break from Harold was only of 33 points but he won it as he did not give any chance to his opponent playing some excellent safety shots and the game went to the deciding frame.
Harold showed some excellent battling skills in the decider as Walden was leading him by 55-3 before he gave a chance to Harold who potted a difficult red with the cushion under pressure but was able get only 8 points before he missed a cut to the
blue in the middle pocket.
Walden could have had the frame but he hammered the green too hard and suddenly a great chance for his opponent came up. Harold made a break of 43 in the end to have the final frame.
It was a tough completion but Harold held his nerves to win 4-3 when he was 3-1 down and Walden only needed a single frame. Dave Harold will now face the world number John Higgins in the last 16.
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