Ricky Walden versus Rory McLeod – 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
Ricky Walden and Rory McLeod are set to meet in the first round of the 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, which is going to be staged from 16 April to 3 May, at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England.
Both players have met five times before in a professional competition. Their first meeting was in 2003, at the qualifying round two of the Welsh Open, and then it was in 2006, again in the qualifying round for the Northern Ireland Trophy. Both players shared a win in these two meeting with a same score-line of 5-3. The third time both Englishman faced each other was in the 2009 Paul Hunter Classic and their fourth meeting came in Masters qualifying tournaments. Both of these matches went in the favour of McLeod. However their final clash at the EPTC event this year was won by Walden. So overall in their head-to-head record McLeod leads Walden at 3-2.
As far as their Crucible history is concerned both players have appeared only once before in the 2009 World Snooker Champion and this is going to be their second participation. Moreover they both lost their battles in the first round with a same score-line of 10-6.
The 28-year-old, Walden, has had a solid season this year. He started off well by qualifying for the first four ranking event and he was also consistent in the following PTC events. His strong performance came at the World Open tournament where he impressively beat the likes of Andy Hicks, James McBain and Jamie Cope to reach the quarter-final which he lost to Neil Robertson. Later on he successfully secured a place in the top-16 due to his consistent performance in the UK Championship. Walden also made it to the last-16 of both the German Masters and the China Open tournaments before he suffered his only first round defeat in the Welsh Open tournament.
For the 39-year-old, McLeod, it has been a mixed season. He took a slow start with the PTC events and also lost in the first qualifying round for the Shanghai Masters. Though he improved a bit in the World Open and at the UK Championship, he was clobbered again in Telford and the German Masters. Since then he has played good, as he won his next three opening matches including qualifying for the home of snooker with a 10-5 win over Mark Davis.
Keeping all the facts and figures in mind, it is difficult to predict the winner. There might be a fully stretched battle between these two. Though McLeod leads Walden by 3-2 in their overall head-to-head record, he has not been able to perform well this season. Moreover Walden for the first time is entering the Crucible as a top-16 player.
The match can go either way, as both players have the ability to topple each other but Ricky’s performance this season might just prove out to be the deciding factor in the game.
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