Mike Dunn beats Sam Baird in Qualifiers Round 3 of 2011 World Snooker Championships
Sam Baird has lost to Mike Dunn by a frame score of 10-9 in the qualifiers round 3 of 2011 World Snooker Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England.
The 22-year-old, Sam Baird, was one of the strongest prospects for the Crucible Theatre. He was the only player who started from the very first stage of the preliminary qualifying rounds and had beaten the likes of Colin Mitchell, Neal Selman, Reanne Evans,
T’.T’boon, and Alfie Burden to come up against Mike Dunn in the round 3. But finally his hopes have been ended.
The world number 33, Mike Dunn, has already been to the televised stages of the World Championships in 2002 where he lost 10-6 to Matthew Stevens and therefore was way more experienced than Baird.
It was an excellent competition between the two which ended up on the final black ball.
The overall score line between the players was 25-85, 66-52, 83-39, 63-6, 0-77, 71-49, 0-125, 10-78, 15-78, 15-78, 88-0, 63-27, 102-22, 33-73, 58-63, 75-34, 15-74, 30-84, 93-40, and 71-58.
The opening frame was dominated by Baird with a couple of quick breaks, 36 and 39. But any early nerves were removed by Dunn who took the next three in a row using his flawless safety skills to lead 3-1 before the interval.
After the interval, the first frame was taken by Baird who fired up a classy break of 77 to come within one frame by 3-2. Dunn took the sixth frame again without doing anything outstanding to extend his lead by 4-2. But he was not given any chance in the
following frame as a mind boggling match-highest century break of 125 came up from Baird. He also stormed into the next two frames enjoying carving breaks of 57 and 74 to end the first session with a one-frame lead.
Starting the evening session with a 5-4 deficit, Mike Dunn, who was playing tactical game otherwise, also showed his break-building skills and pocketed the first three frames. He made outclass breaks of 88 and 101 in the tenth and twelfth respectively.
However, things were levelled by 7-7 as Baird clawed back to take the next two. Dunn managed in winning the fifteenth with dominant breaks of 38 and 20 before Baird again produced superb breaks of 62 and 60 in the sixteenth and seventeenth to leave his opponent
one frame down with two to play.
The match was almost through until Baird lost control of his emotions after a break of 40 and when the chance presented itself, Dunn, who was trailing by 9-7, slotted a marvellous break of 87 to force the decider.
The first chance in the deciding frame fell for Baird but he broke at 32 and brought Dunn on the table who responded with a couple of quick fires, 27 and 36. A bout of safety was seen afterwards in which Baird came on the top but after doing all the hard
work he lost his nerves on the black ball and the frame was gifted to Dunn.
Mike Dunn will now play Mark King in the final qualifying round and the winner will reach the last 16 of the 2011 World Snooker Championships.
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