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WATTANA SHOWDOWN FOR HOLT
• Thailand Cup Quarter Finals
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By
Hanif Hassan
Thursday,
26 July, 2007
Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm (James Wattana) struggled for more than two and half hours to scrape through to the CAT Telecom-Chanthaburi Thailand Cup 2007 semifinals.
Rival Michael Holt spent just a little over 70 minutes to go through on Thursday.
Ratchapol, a runner-up at the Euro-Asia Snooker Masters Challenge in Hong Kong earlier this month, was only a shadow of his best as he succeeded in pinching the match 4-3 from Phaithoon Phonbun on the last pink.
Holt, the world No. 23 from England, only delivered the expected fireworks on couple of occasions, but he controlled the game well to defeat former Asian runner-up Noppadol Sangnil 4-1 in their quarter-final encounter at the New Travel Lodge Hotel and set up a semifinal clash with Ratchapol on Friday afternoon.
Ratchapol conceded the opening frame to a determined Phaithoon, winner of the fourth ranking event in Phitsanulok late last month, but recovered to capture a 2-1 advantage.
Phaithoon was up to the task and went on to regain the upper hand as a break of 63 gave him the fifth frame. Ratchapol, a veteran professional who is now ranked No. 33 in the world, had a lucky break in the sixth frame and he had a run of 77 points to steal a tie at 3-3.
In the deciding frame, both Ratchapol and Phaithoon took turns to miss match-winning opportunities. Phaithoon could have booked his place in semifinals had he not miscued the last brown and that gave Ratchapol the chance to wrap up them match by potting brown, blue and pink balls.
The way Ratchapol (pictured above) has played during the course of the Chanthaburi event leaves certain doubts hanging over his chances of winning his semifinal battle with Holt, who has so far been in an impressive touch.
Earlier in the first quarter-final of the day, veteran Praprut Chaithanasakul massacred young Jessada Posukarn 4-0 to storm into his fourth semifinal this season.
Praprut's semifinal rival will be the winner of last evening's quarter-final match between red-hot Stuart Pettman, the world No. 53 from England, and unsung Suttipong Chansri. Whoever takes on Praprut in the semifinals on Thursday can expect to have a tough run.
The first semifinal will be played at the same venue at 1 pm and the second at 4 pm.
Frame scores
Wednesday's last 16 round match: Suttipong Chansri beat Navin Hengsomboon 4-3 (20-70, 54-46, 68(59)-30, 20-53, 36-58, 61-34, 73-18)
Thursday's quarter-finals: Praprut Chaithanasakul beat Jessada Posukarn 4-0 (81-3, 61-17, 62-29, 86-28); Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm beat Phaithoon Phonbun 4-3 (63-65, 56-40, 60-46, 32-57, 4-71, 77-41, 66-52); Michael Holt beat Noppadol Sangnil 4-1 (118(93)-4, 74-36, 77(63)-36, 52-61, 85-38)
Global Cue Sports 2007
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