Martin Gould ensured there will be at least two Crucible debutants this year after superbly finishing off his 10-4 victory over Matthew Stevens with a break of 100, his third century of the match.
Martin's game has turned round in the second half of this season and he received a huge injection of confidence in beating Stephen Hendry in last month's Welsh Open.
"After beating Stephen I watched the highlights because it was a reality check. I thought it was a dream," he said.
Like Andrew Higginson, Gould's breakthrough has come after years of toil and many setbacks.
It's a shame a player of the class of Stevens won't be at the Crucible - for the first time in 12 years - but hats off to Gould for his effort and application.
Jamie Cope, who defeated Paul Davies 10-5, didn't look like a man who'd just qualified but he tends to keep his emotions inside - not a bad thing in sport.
2 comments:
Jamie Cope beat Paul Davies but nevermind. That's a bread and butter result for him. Well done on the debutants getting through. On your other post you mentioned that Rory Mcleod had never got there, I thought he had but my memory's not that great.
Thank you - now corrected!
Rory has been close a couple of times but is yet to make it.
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