Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Stephen Hendry crash out of PTC Event 1: 2011-12 Snooker Season
Big names of world snooker, world number one Mark Williams, number three Mark Selby and the veteran Stephen Hendry, crashed out of the Player Tour Championship (PTC) Event 1 after losing their first
round matches against Li Yan, Kyren Wilson and Stephen Maguire respectively, at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
Selby played his first match of the 2011-12 Snooker Season on Monday, June 20 at the academy against the Scotsman, Stephen Maguire. He played brilliantly in the beginning to grab two scrappy frames
with the help of some decent knocks, but in the later part of the match, he failed completely lost track and lost to the Scotsman by 4-2.
Selby had a splendid last season but unfortunately he could not clinch any major title despite reaching to the final matches of three major ranking events. The last high ranking final he played was
the 2011 China Open, where he faced the youngster, Judd Trump, but lost to him 10-8 in the final.
Both China Open 2011 finalists, Trump and Selby, will be head-to-head again in a potential Last-16 match of the upcoming Australian Goldfields Open 2011 that will commence from July 18 to 24 at the
Bendigo Stadium. The qualifying rounds of the tournament will begin from June 30 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
World number one Mark Williams was up against world Snooker Qualifying School (Q School) Event 2 quarter-finalist, China’s Li Yan. It was a close game and Yan had to be on the top of his game to beat
Williams. Fortunately for Yan, it was his day as he clinched the match in a decider frame, 4-3.
Williams was in tremendous form in the previous season as he clinched the 2011 German Masters beating Mark Selby. However, in the World Snooker Championship 2011, he crashed out of the event in semi-final
stage against World Champion John Higgins.
Hendry’s hopes of starting the new season on a high came crashing down when the former seven-time world snooker champion faced a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Kyren Wilson. The amateur played outstandingly
to push the match into a deciding set. Although the bets were all for Hendry in the final set, Wilson displayed maturity beyond his years to outclass his opponent and eventually win the match.
The legendary Hendry was about to retire from the world of snooker last year and decided to play only major events in 2011-12. However, after consulting his family, he decided to return to the game
and not restrict himself in terms of tournaments.
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