Matthew Selt edges final frame thriller against Patrick Wallace: World Snooker Championship
Patrick Wallace lost his battle against Matthew Selt by a frame of 10-9 in the qualifying round 3 of the 2011 World Snooker Championship held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England.
The experienced Northern Ireland’s, Patrick Wallace, who beat Del Smith and Rod Lawler comfortably in the previous rounds with frames scores of 10-2 and 10-5 respectively, crashed in the third round after a cut-throat competition.
It was one of the best battles seen in the third round that went into the final deciding frame. The overall score line between the players was 62-12, 54-76, 74-43, 63-62, 0-96, 32-58, 40-65, 6-93, 36-65, 76-13, 39-75, 18-88, 79-11, 100-0, 73-60, 16-76, 66-44,
86-13, and 80-43.
The 25-year-old, Selt, took the first blood with a couple of quick fires, 26 and 27, while Wallace responded in the second to level the things by 1-1. However, he lost the scrappy third again after a bout of safety play.
Wallace had a great chance in the fourth but he could not clinch the frame, breaking down on 62. Selt rolled in a decisive break of 49 to lead by 3-1 before the interval.
After the interval Selt, who was leading by 3-1, was made a total spectator. Wallace showed his break-building skills and fired up classy breaks of 91, 57, 62, 93, and 29 respectively to win five frames straight and turned a two frame deficit into a three
frame advantage, 6-3, before the evening session.
In the evening session, Selt dominated the first frame contributing a break of 60 but he lost his nerves in the second, breaking down on 39, and Wallace pocketed the frame with a couple of quick breaks, 33 and 42. He also took the twelfth with carving breaks
of 57 and 25. However, Selt managed in winning the thirteenth with dominant breaks of 25 and 54 to trail by 8-5 before the mid-session break.
After the evening session break, the first two frames were over within a blink of an eye. Selt produced a mind boggling match-highest century break of 100 in the fourteenth followed by another classy break of 60 in the fifteenth and reduced the deficit by
8-7.
Selt again was the first to be among the balls in the sixteenth frame but he lost control of his emotions after a rolling in 16 points and when the chance presented itself, Wallace slotted a magnificent break of 76 to leave his opponent two frames down with
three to play.
The match was almost through but Selt again clawed back showing nerves of steel and won two straight. He made decisive breaks of 42 and 58 to force the decider.
In the final frame, Wallace was on the run first. He almost reached the finish line after making a break of 43 but the victory slipped away from his jaws when he missed an unbelievable shot and brought his opponent on the table. Selt fully capitalised the
given chance and made an outclass break of 80 to secure his place in the final qualifying round by 10-9.
Matthew Selt will now face Marcus Campbell to battle out for the most prestigious event.
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