Welsh Dragons march on

Matthew Stevens and Ryan Day followed in the footsteps of fellow countryman Mark Williams to make it three Welshmen into the last 16 in Newport.

Welsh players have often struggled to live up to expectations on their own turf.

But they're not suffering from confidence so far in this tournament.

Williams set the bar yesterday with a fantastic display to advance past Marco Fu. The crowd had more high hopes today. Stevens and Day didn't disappoint.




It doesn't matter where you go in the world, Stevens is always a popular character with the snooker fans. But in Wales, that amplifies. He repaid his supporters with a terrific performance to beat Shaun Murphy 4-0.

He's been making a steady rise back up the rankings ladder but today he produced the kind of form, which suggests he could soon be back challenging for titles.

Murphy on the other hand has plenty of room for concern. He's yet to recover from his quarter-final exit at the UK Championship, and his season is in danger of sliding into nothingness after a promising start.

Day also booked his place in the second round with his first ever career win over Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Back-to-back centuries in the opening two frames set him on his way to a4-2 win, and he deserves plenty of praise for a gutsy display.

Criticism can often be levelled at the Rocket when he's beaten, but tonight he wasn't his own undoing. Day simply got his game plan bang on. He gave very little away and made sure Ronnie was punished for his errors.

Defeat means O'Sullivan will not be one of the top eight seeds at this year's World Championship, but more worryingly is that this marks three consecutive first round exits at major events.

Both Stevens and Day look in tip top form, but something has to give when they meet tomorrow in the second round.

Elsewhere, it surprised me this morning when I read that Stephen Maguire is the fourth ranked player based on this season alone. He'll be hoping to convert his consistent season into a title though. He beat Gerard Greene in his first round match today as he tries to put that right.

Stephen Hendry also advanced to the last 16 with a comfortable 4-0 win against Joe Perry. The seven-time world champion has really picked up his game to stave off falling out of the top 16. He cued exceptionally well today and deserved his win.

Today also saw the start of round two matches.

John Higgins was the third Scot to enjoy victory in Newport. He beat Dave Harold 4-1. Moments ago he was joined by German Masters finalist Mark Selby in the last eight. He earned a hard-fought 4-2 win over Mark King. This comes just a month after the Romford man had knocked him out of the Masters. Revenge will be sweet as Selby continues to grow into the season.