Kurt Maflin loses to Xiao Guodong in Qualifiers Round 1 of 2011 World Snooker Championship
The Norwegian professional snooker player Kurt Maflin has lost his battle against the relatively less experienced Chinese star Xiao Guodong by a frame score of 10-9 in the qualifiers round 1 of the World Snooker Championship 2011 that was held at the World
Snooker Academy.
Kurt Maflin had played one of the best matches in the China Open qualifiers and was one of the strong prospects for the Crucible Theatre but he has been outplayed by the Chinese, Guodong, after a fully stretched battle.
The overall score line between the players was 55-78, 47-74, 88-6, 33-70, 61-44, 35-95, 83-0, 92-9, 65-50, 0-91, 68-6, 0-88, 56-77, 0-130, 135-4, 106-21, 0-114, 68-35, and 86-3.
The players presented a spectacular game in one of the most awaited matches of round 1.
Maflin was off with a flying start as he took the first two frames with dominant breaks of 48 and 30 to lead by 2-0 before Guodong pocketed the next one to come within one frame.
In the fourth frame, Maflin compiled a carving break of 70 whereas a 56 was produced by Guodong in the fifth.
Both players traded frames with excellent breaks afterwards. A carving 94 was produced by Maflin in the sixth frame and he was now leading by a frame score of 4-2 before Guodong bounced back to take the next three in a row. This was the turning point in
the match. He enjoyed classy breaks of 83, and 61 in the seventh and eighth before winning a scrappy ninth.
Guodong went ahead by 5-4 but Maflin had no reeling effects he made a magnificent 91 in the tenth frame giving his opponent no chance.
The eleventh frame was bit cagey. Both the players had a bout of safety but in the end, Guodong came on top of it.
Both players showed an even more spectacular game in the following frames and they were over within a blink of an eye.
Kurt Maflin, who was trailing Guodong by 6-5, clawed back this time to take three frames straight with dominant breaks of 87, 77, and a superb 130. Whereas, the Chinese responded with mind boggling breaks of 135 and 100 in the next two to level the things
at 8-8.
Another outclass century break of 114 came up from Maflin in the seventeenth which left him only one frame away from victory but he lost the next two. Maflin was given a few chances but he could not capitalise.
However, Xiao Guodong played a tactical game in both frames and sealed his victory. The dominant breaks from Guodong were 46 and 65 respectively.
Xiao Guodong will now face Jimmy Robertson in the round 2 of the qualifiers and hopefully another spectacular match is on the cards.
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