Robin Hull and David Grace beat David Gilbert and Zhang Anda to qualify for 2011-12 season pro tour
Finland’s Robin Hull and Englishman, David Grace, have won their respective quarter-final matches of the first event of the Qualifying School (Q School) and have earned a place in the main tour of the 2011-12 season. They defeated David Gilbert and Zhang
Anda, respectively, in the quarter-finals to grab a spot in the pro tour according to the new qualifying system.
Robin Hull 4-3 David Gilbert
The most exciting match of the quarter-final stage that ended in a decider frame was played between Robin Hull and David Gilbert. Hull has regained the pro tour spot after three years of his retirement from professional snooker in 2008.
He appeared in the Q School in 2008, where he surged into the last 31 but a life-threatening virus affected his career and he retired from professional snooker. However, he came back into the Q School and clinched five matches, including the quarter-final
clash against David Gilbert with a 4-3 win.
Hull said, “I didn't feel too sharp at 3-1 down, but I produced a couple of good frames to get back to 3-3,". "In the decider, David had a chance but he was unlucky not to land on anything when he went into the pack, and I made a good break to win it.”
The overall score line was 69-4 (Hull 49, 20), 49-61 (Hull 44, Gilbert 34), 2-77 (Gilbert 71), 24-83 (Gilbert 83), 70-32 (Hull 48), 73-12 (Hull 56), 76-8 (Hull 69).
David Grace 4-1 Zhang Anda
A couple of decent small breaks of 44 and 35 in the third frame from Chinese, Zhang Anda, could only move him within one frame up at 2-1 against Englishman, David Grace, who showed a brilliant performance in the event.
The 26-year-old Grace fired some extraordinary clearances of 40, 71, 128 and 57, to take a three-frame victory over the Chinese player.
Grace said, “I'd like to think that I'm a better player now and I know what the standard is like. It's unbelievable to be back on, especially as there are so many events now. My only target will be to stay on the tour and to enjoy it.”
The frame scores of the game were 65-11 (Grace 40), 71-64 (Zhang 60, Grace 71), 35-101 (Zhang 44, 35), 129-0 (Grace 128), 73-1 (Grace 57).
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