Match Reports: Day One at the 888.com World Championship
Time Gentlemen Please!
Anthony Hamilton 4 – 4 Ian McCulloch
Anthony Hamilton and Ian McCulloch struggled to bring any sort of quality to their second round encounter in the dullest match so far.
Both players had chances in every frame, but a succession of easy misses eroded confidence and left the session mired in mediocrity.
Ian McCulloch knocked out defending champion Graeme Dott in the first round, and he started well enough by taking the first frame with a break of 68.
The 35-year-old should have added the second frame, but missed an easy brown to gift Hamilton the equaliser. The miss seemed to shake both players, and it was a further 48 minutes before McCulloch claimed the third frame.
Hamilton briefly lifted the match with a 60 break to make it 2-2, but a 32 from McCulloch was good enough to win the fifth frame.
The session reached its nadir in the sixth. Nearly 30 points were given away in fouls as the frame stretched to 50 minutes. Ten minutes alone were spent on the final brown.
The seventh flew by in a mere 25 minutes as McCulloch took the lead for the fourth time. Hamilton’s 61 made the final frame mercifully brief, the session finishing up at 4-4.
By David Pritchard
