Players to watch in 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker event – Part 4
New snooker season is proceeding successfully and two of the major events, the 2012 Wuxi Classic snooker event and the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open snooker tournament, have finished at their respective venues.
So far, none of the top guns of the game including the World Number one Mark Selby, former World Snooker Championship runner up Judd Trump and the former two-time World Snooker Championship winner, Mark Williams have won any of the major ranking events.
Some new faces emerged in the new season line up who performed tremendously in the first couple of events in the new snooker season and were able to claim the major and minor ranking snooker event titles. The first major ranking snooker event of the new
season, the 2012 Wuxi Classic, was claimed by the Englishman Ricky Walden while the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open was clinched by the 2012 Snooker Shootout winner, Barry Hawkins of England.
The potters from around the world are looking forward towards the upcoming third major ranking event of the 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker event. The cuemen are sharpening their cue sticks to perform at their best and produce some fireworks at the Shanghai
baize.
Mark Davis
Between the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open, the potters tried their luck in the minor ranking snooker tournament of 2012 Six-Red World Championship where the Englishman, Mark Davis was victorious after he clinched the title beating
the former World Snooker Championship winner, compatriot Shaun Murphy by the score line of 8-4.
Davis had a convincing performance in the previous snooker season especially in the Players Tour Championship (PTC) events, Championship League Snooker and the Premier League Snooker. However, in the major ranking snooker events, the English potter was unable
to claim any of them but he did manage to make his way into the initial round of some important major events.
Due to his tremendous snooker skills in the last snooker season, he successfully booked his place in the new season tour where he glanced impressively and produced some fireworks at the baize to let the world know about his talent. He was placed in the fourth
round of the 2012 Wuxi Classic snooker event where he was up against compatriot Rory McLeod. He defeated McLeod by the score line of 5-2 to book his place in the initial round.
He faced the winner of the 2012 Welsh Open, China’s Ding Junhui in the first round and played classically against him to beat him by the score line of 5-2. In the next two games, Davis trashed Scotland’s Jamie Burnett by 5-3 and the former World Snooker
Championship winner Graeme Dott by 5-0 to reserve a place in the semi-final encounter where he lost to Stuart Bingham by 6-5.
The Englishman showed the same performance in the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open and breezed his way into the semi-final encounter after beating Jack Lisowski 5-2, Neil Robertson 5-1 and Martin Gould 5-2 in the first three rounds of the event. He faced
Barry Hawkins in the semi-final clash and tumbled down against him at 6-4.
Reaching the penultimate stages of both major events must have given him a lot of confidence to go to China and give his best. He is definitely one of the top contenders of the Shanghai event because the potter is in full swing and has the capability to
unsettle any opponent. Beating Junhui was one of his superb achievements this season and he will be looking to continue his good game.
He has booked his place in the opening round of the 2012 Shanghai Masters after putting an end to Martin Gould’s run. He will be facing former two-time World Snooker Championship winner Mark Williams in the first round.
Continued in Part 5
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