Matthew Stevens faces Ryan Day in quarter-final stage of 2012 World Snooker Championship
After putting up an excellent show at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield against the 2012 Snooker Shootout winner, England’s Barry Hawkins in the second round clash and defeated him by the score line of 13-11. Now the Welshman has made his way into the quarter-final
stage against compatriot, Ryan Day, who defeated Chinese potter Cao Yupeng by the score of 13-7.
The match-up between Stevens and Hawkins went very close as both potters were playing brilliantly in the game from the beginning. At the end of the first two sessions, Hawkins was leading the clash by the score line of 8-6. At this point, the Welshman was
under immense pressure because he was not expecting Hawkins to hit the lead early in the game.
However, the Welsh Dragon fought back and clinched four frames to snatch the lead by the score line of 10-8. The two-frame lead of Stevens really pushed Hawkins down but the Hawk came back firing impressive breaks of 63, 64 and 51 to move within three frames
up at 12-11. Stevens smashed an outstanding clearance of 57 to hit the victory by 13-11.
As far as Stevens’ match against Day is concerned, the Welshman believes Day is a tough opponent and has the capability to produce classy game play.
Speaking to World Snooker after his match, Stevens said, “Ryan has had a tough time in the last couple of years with the change in the ranking system. Everybody says he has dropped down so much but the way the new ranking system came in he was affected more
than anyone and it has been very tough for him.”
The 34-year-old added, “It is nice to see him come back, especially with a good win over Ding, so I was very pleased when he got to the quarters. Hopefully he won't get any further!”
Both Stevens and Day have played at the same baize many times before where Stevens was successful in most of the encounters. The odds here are definitely favouring Carmarthen potter and he is playing impressively as well. It will be interesting to see how
Stevens manages to carry his winning momentum forward in the tournament.
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