„Maharaja“ showed no mercy for „Fabulous“ Fabio

Single elimination round demands popular victims

Cison di Valmarino, Italy: The „Maharaja“ Imran Majid (GBR) ousted local hero „Fabulous“ Fabio Petroni (ITA) with 9:5 from the tournament.

Majid was the better player in the match and deserved the victory. He had balls down in 86% of his break shots with a 67% shot on then lowest numbered ball. Furthermore, he broke and ran 3 racks on Fabio. The Italian played a match of ups and downs. His break ratio was 100%, he always had a ball down on the break. But only in 29% he was able to play the lowest numbered ball.

In the early stage of the match it looked like Majid would not allow at to become a fight at all. He was leading 4:0 after four racks, not leaving a chance for Petroni so far. A mistake which Majid committed in rack five opened the door for Petroni to get the first point in his account. Majid snookered himself and gave an open table away to Petroni. As the match went on, it was obvious that Majid was the player in better shape today. He played more constant and his safety shots were more efficient than Petroni’s. Also, the break shot efficiency from Majid outscored Petroni by a mile. In the 14th rack, Majid broke the balls and had a possible layout in front of him. All of a sudden, Petroni gave up, shook hands and unscrewed his cue sticks. That was a bit strange since he was only trailing three racks at the time. However, Majid deserved the victory and will now proceed to the round of the final 16 players which will be played tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time.